Full Text Available Hippocampal theta oscillations have been implicated in working memory and attentional process, which might be useful for the brain-machine interface (BMI. To further elucidate the properties of the hippocampal theta oscillations that can be used in BMI, we investigated hippocampal theta oscillations during a two-lever choice task. During the task body-restrained rats were trained with a food reward to move an e-puck robot towards them by pressing the correct lever, ipsilateral to the robot several times, using the ipsilateral forelimb. The robot carried food and moved along a semicircle track set in front of the rat. We demonstrated that the power of hippocampal theta oscillations gradually increased during a 6-s preparatory period before the start of multiple leverpressing, irrespective of whether the correct lever choice or forelimb side were used. In addition, there was a significant difference in the theta power after the first choice, between correct and incorrect trials. During the correct trials the theta power was highest during the first lever-releasing period, whereas in the incorrect trials it occurred during the second correct lever-pressing period. We also analyzed the hippocampal theta oscillations at the termination of multiple leverpressing during the correct trials. Irrespective of whether the correct forelimb side was used, the power of hippocampal theta oscillations gradually decreased with the termination of multiple leverpressing. The frequency of theta oscillation also demonstrated an increase and decrease, before and after multiple leverpressing, respectively. There was a transient increase in frequency after the first leverpress during the incorrect trials, while no such increase was observed during the correct trials. These results suggested that hippocampal theta oscillations reflect some aspects of preparatory and cognitive neural activities during the robot controlling task, which could be used for BMI.

Full Text Available Avoidance and its perseveration represent key features of anxiety disorders. Both pharmacological and behavioral approaches (i.e. anxiolytics and extinction therapy have been utilized to modulate avoidance behavior in patients. However, the outcome has not always been desirable. Part of the reason is attributed to the diverse neuropathology of anxiety disorders. Here, we investigated the effect of psychotropic drugs that target various monoamine systems on extinction of avoidance behavior using lever-press avoidance task. Here we used the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY rat, a unique rat model that exhibits facilitated avoidance and extinction resistance along with malfunction of the dopamine (DA system. Sprague Dawley (SD and WKY rats were trained to acquire lever-press avoidance. WKY rats acquired avoidance faster and to a higher level compared to SD rats. During pharmacological treatment, bupropion, and desipramine significantly reduced avoidance response selectively in WKY rats. However, after the discontinuation of drug treatment, only those WKY rats that were previously treated with desipramine exhibited lower avoidance response compared to the control group. In contrast, none of the psychotropic drugs facilitated avoidance extinction in SD rats. Instead, desipramine impaired avoidance extinction and increased non-reinforced response in SD rats. Interestingly, paroxetine, a widely used antidepressant and anxiolytic, exhibited the weakest effect in WKY rats and no effects at all in SD rats. Thus, our data suggest that malfunctions in brain catecholamine system could be one of the underlying etiologies of anxiety-like behavior, particularly avoidance perseveration. Pharmacological manipulation targeting DA and norepinephrine is more effective to facilitate extinction learning in this strain. The data from the present study may shed light on new pharmacological approaches to treat patients with anxiety disorders who are not responding to serotonin re

Ten male Sprague-Dawley rats received 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle and 10 others underwent control operations. The lesion depleted levels of noradrenaline in the hippocampus to 2% of those in the controls. All rats were then trained for 16 sessions to lever-press in a Skinner box on a variable interval 18 sec schedule of food-reinforcement, then for 42 days on a successive discrimination between periods of variable interval (VI 18 sec) food-reinforcement and periods of extinction. This report describes the effects of chlordiazepoxide (CDP; 5 mg/kg) and propranolol (5 and 10 mg/kg) injected intraperitoneally in both groups on modified ABBA designs after this training. Both drugs increased the response rates in extinction periods. The effect of propranolol was similar at each dose and smaller than that of CDP. Although CDP and propranolol (5 mg/kg) increased variable interval response rates also, this could not account for the effect on extinction response rates. Responding did not differ between the lesioned and control animals and the effects of drugs were similar in each group. It is unlikely that CDP or propranolol release nonrewarded responding by disrupting transmission in the dorsal noradrenergic bundle.

Pavlovian autoshaping CRs are directed and reflexive consummatory responses targeted at objects repeatedly paired with rewarding substances. To evaluate the hypothesis that autoshaping may provide an animal learning model of vulnerability to drug abuse, this study relates individual differences in lever-press autoshaping CR performance in rats to stress-induced corticosterone release and tissue monoamine levels in the mesolimbic dopamine tract. Long-Evans rats (n = 14) were given 20 sessions of Pavlovian autoshaping training wherein the insertion of a retractable lever CS was followed by the response-independent presentation of food US. Large between-subjects differences in lever-press autoshaping CR performance were observed, with group high CR frequency (n = 5) performing many more leverpress CRs than group low CR frequency (n = 9). Tail-blood samples were obtained before and after the 20th autoshaping session, then 24 h later the rats were sacrificed and dissection yielded tissue samples of nucleus accumbens (NAC), prefrontal cortex (PFC), caudate putamen (CP), and ventral tegmental area (VTA). Serum levels of postsession corticosterone were elevated in group high CR frequency. HPLC revealed that group high CR frequency had higher tissue levels of dopamine and DOPAC in NAC, lower levels of DOPAC/DA turnover in CP, and lower levels of 5-HIAA and lower 5-HIAA/5-HT turnover in VTA. The neurochemical profile of rats that perform more autoshaping CRs share some features of vulnerability to drug abuse.

The infralimbic cortex (IL) mediates extinction learning and the active suppression of cocaine-seeking behavior. However, the precise temporal relationship among IL activity, leverpressing, and extinction learning is unclear. To address this issue, we used activity-guided optogenetics in male Sprague Dawley rats to silence IL pyramidal neurons optically for 20 s immediately after unreinforced leverpresses during early extinction training after cocaine self-administration. Optical inhibition of the IL increased active leverpressing during shortened extinction sessions, but did not alter the retention of the extinction learning as assessed in ensuing extinction sessions with no optical inhibition. During subsequent cued reinstatement sessions, rats that had previously received optical inhibition during the extinction sessions showed increased cocaine-seeking behavior. These findings appeared to be specific to inhibition during the post-leverpress period because IL inhibition given in a noncontingent, pseudorandom manner during extinction sessions did not produce the same effects. Illumination alone (i.e., with no opsin expression) and food-seeking control experiments also failed to produce the same effects. In another experiment, IL inhibition after leverpresses during cued reinstatement sessions increased cocaine seeking during those sessions. Finally, inhibition of the prelimbic cortex immediately after unreinforced leverpresses during shortened extinction sessions decreased leverpressing during these sessions, but had no effect on subsequent reinstatement. These results indicate that IL activity immediately after unreinforced leverpresses is necessary for normal extinction of cocaine seeking, suggesting that critical encoding of the new contingencies between a leverpress and a cocaine reward occurs during that period. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The infralimbic cortex (IL) contributes to the extinction of cocaine-seeking behavior, but the precise relationship

Neutral cues paired with rewards often appear to acquire motivational significance, as if the incentive motivational value of the reward is transferred to the cue. Such cues have been reported to modulate the performance of instrumental action (Pavlovian-instrumental transfer, PIT), serve as conditioned reinforcers in the establishment of new learning, and be the targets of approach and other cue-directed behaviors. Here we examined the effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus (CeA) on the acquisition of discriminative autoshaped lever-pressing. Insertion of one lever into the experimental chamber was reinforced by sucrose delivery, but insertion of another lever was not reinforced. Although sucrose delivery was not contingent on leverpressing, both CeA- and sham-lesioned rats rapidly came to press the reinforced but not the nonreinforced lever. Despite their showing little evidence of impairments in autoshaped leverpressing, these same CeA-lesioned rats showed significant deficits in the expression of PIT in a subsequent phase of the experiment. The lack of impaired autoshaping in CeA-lesioned rats contrasts with effects previously reported for conditioned orienting responses (ORs) and for other putative measures of incentive learning including PIT and conditioned approach to visual cues. PMID:22386516

Two experiments were designed to evaluate whether brief access to a saccharin-ethanol solution would function as an effective unconditioned stimulus (US) in Pavlovian-autoshaping procedures. In these experiments, the insertion of a lever conditioned stimulus (CS) was followed by the brief presentation of a sipper tube containing saccharin-ethanol US solution. Experience with this Pavlovian-autoshaping procedure engendered lever CS-directed autoshaping conditioned responses (CRs) in all rats. In Experiment 1, the concentration of ethanol [0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, or 8% (vol./vol.)] in 0.1% saccharin was systematically increased within subjects across autoshaping sessions to evaluate the relation between a rat's drinking and leverpressing. In Experiment 2, the mean intertrial interval (ITI) duration (60, 90, 120 s) was systematically increased within subjects across autoshaping sessions to evaluate the effect of ITI duration on drinking and leverpressing. A pseudoconditioning control group received lever CS randomly with respect to the saccharin-ethanol US solution. In Experiment 1, lever-press autoshaping CRs developed in all rats, and the tendency of a rat to drink an ethanol concentration was predictive of the performance of lever-press autoshaping CRs. In Experiment 2, longer ITIs induced more lever CS-directed responding, and CS-US paired procedures yielded more lever CS-directed responding than that observed in CS-US random procedures. Saccharin-ethanol is an effective US in Pavlovian-autoshaping procedures, inducing more CS-directed responding than in pseudoconditioning controls receiving CS-US random procedures. More lever CS-directed responding was observed when there was more drinking of the saccharin-ethanol US solution (Experiment 1); when the CS and US were paired, rather than random (Experiment 2); and with longer mean ITI durations (Experiment 2). This pattern of results is consistent with the hypothesis that lever CS-directed responding reflects performance

In three experiments, access to wheel running was contingent on leverpressing. In each experiment, the duration of access to running was reduced gradually to 4, 5, or 6 s, and the schedule parameters were expanded gradually. The sessions lasted 2 hr. In Experiment 1, a fixed-ratio 20 schedule controlled a typical break-and-run pattern of leverpressing that was maintained throughout the session for 3 rats. In Experiment 2, a fixed-interval schedule of 6 min maintained leverpressing throughout the session for 3 rats, and for 1 rat, the rate of leverpressing was positively accelerated between reinforcements. In Experiment 3, a variable-ratio schedule of 20 or 35 was in effect and maintained leverpressing at a very stable pace throughout the session for 2 of 3 rats; for 1 rat, leverpressing was maintained at an irregular rate. When the session duration was extended to successive 24-hr periods, with food and water accessible in Experiment 3, leverpressing settled into a periodic pattern occurring at a high rate at approximately the same time each day. In each experiment, the rats that developed the highest local rates of running during wheel access also maintained the most stable and highest rates of leverpressing.

Forty-eight rats in four conditions were used to determine the efficacy of preshock warning tones in maintaining bar-press shock postponement performance after irradiation. The SIDMAN group performed without external cues. The SIGNAL group received a 5 sec warning tone preceding shock. The COSAV group had preshock warning tones available for 60 sec following a response on another lever, and was used to assess the ability to maintain performance on two levers simultaneously. In VISIG, warning tones always preceded shocks, but followed shock postponement responses unpredictably. Sham-irradiated control groups were used to compare baseline performance on each task, and for comparison with irradiated subjects. Irradiated subjects could perform the movements necessary to successfully avoid shock. They were able to detect and respond appropriately to preshock warning tones when present, although COSAV subjects did not continue to respond to produce them. Irradiated subjects experienced a significant and lasting increase in the number of shocks received, except when no external cues were available

We prove that in a world without leverage cost the relationship between the levered beta ( L) and the unlevered beta ( u) is the No-costs-of-leverage formula: L = u + ( u - d) D (1 - T) / E. We also analyze 6 alternative valuation theories proposed in the literature to estimate the relationship between the levered beta and the unlevered beta (Harris and Pringle (1985), Modigliani and Miller (1963), Damodaran (1994), Myers (1974), Miles and Ezzell (1980), and practitioners) and prove that all ...

The changes in concentration, total content of histones and relative proportion of individual histone fractions in intact and regenerating liver were followed in rats after administration of hepatoprotective agents flavobion and thioctacid and after whole-body gamma irradiation with a dose 5.7 Gy. Thioctacid alone caused an increase in histone concentration in intact liver whereas flavobion alone did not produce significant quantitative changes. Irradiation alone decreased markedly the concentration and total content of histones in intact as well as regenerating liver of unprotected rats. Administration of thioctacid or flavobion protected from these quantitative histone changes or alleviated them consideradly. In relative proportion of individual histone fractions, the most profound changes were found in H1 histone after flavobion application

Normal aging in rats affects behavioral performance on a variety of associative learning tasks under Pavlovian conditions. There is little information, however, on whether aging also impacts performance of instrumental tasks. Young (9-12 months) and aged (24-27 months) Fisher 344 rats were trained to press distinct levers associated with either maltodextrin or sucrose. The rats in both age groups increased their leverpress frequency at a similar rate, suggesting that the initial acquisition of this instrumental task is not affected by aging. Using a contingency degradation procedure, we then addressed whether aged rats could adapt their behavior to changes in action-outcome contingencies. We found that young and aged rats do adapt, but that a different schedule of reinforcement is necessary to optimize performance in each age group. Finally, we also addressed whether aged rats can extinguish a leverpress action as well as young rats, using 2 40-min extinction sessions on consecutive days. While extinction profiles were similar in young and aged rats on the first day of training, aged rats were faster to extinguish their leverpresses on the second day, in spite of their performance levels being similar at the beginning of the session. Together these data support the finding that acquisition of instrumental leverpress behaviors is preserved in aged rats and suggest that they have a different threshold for switching strategies in response to changes in action-outcome associations. This pattern of result implies that age-related changes in the brain are heterogeneous and widespread across structures.

Proper performance of acquired abilities can be disturbed by the unexpected occurrence of external changes. Rats trained with an operant conditioning task (to press a lever in order to obtain a food pellet) using a fixed-ratio (1:1) schedule were subsequently placed in a Skinner box in which the lever could be removed randomly. Field postsynaptic potentials (fPSPs) were chronically evoked in perforant pathway-hippocampal CA1 (PP-CA1), CA1-subiculum (CA1-SUB), CA1-medial prefrontal cortex (CA1-mPFC), mPFC-nucleus accumbens (mPFC-NAc), and mPFC-basolateral amygdala (mPFC-BLA) synapses during lever IN and lever OUT situations. While leverpresses were accompanied by a significant increase in fPSP slopes at the five synapses, the unpredictable absence of the lever were accompanied by decreased fPSP slopes in all, except PP-CA1 synapses. Spectral analysis of local field potentials (LFPs) recorded when the animal approached the corresponding area in the lever OUT situation presented lower spectral powers than during lever IN occasions for all recording sites, apart from CA1. Thus, the unpredictable availability of a reward-related cue modified the activity of cortical and subcortical areas related with the acquisition of operant learning tasks, suggesting an immediate functional reorganization of these neural circuits to address the changed situation and to modify ongoing behaviors accordingly.

In the last century, the mythical city of New York has been able to define and transmit the most contagious proposals of innovative construction.The Lever House Building, erected in the heart of Manhattan at the start of the prodigious 1950s managed to become a statement for the possibility of finally realizing the sought‐afterdream of building a glass tower. The poetics and secular conquest of lightness therefore made a leap forward through a prosaic and paradoxical publicity item. A special crucible of business, opportunity and audacity made a fundamental icon of globalized modern American Architecture out of this surprising work.

Note * In the online edition this article is published with all graphic material provided by the author.

Two experiments are reported which show that rats are capable of forming an association between the presence of iron in a solution when it is not specifically needed and a subsequent state of iron deficiency. Specifically, rats were trained to leverpress for water while thirsty. One group received ferrous ions in addition to the water. When these rats were subsequently rendered iron deficient, they leverpressed more under extinction conditions as a graded function of lower hemoglobin levels. Controls that either did not receive ferrous ions during training or received solutions other than ferrous solutions during training did not respond this way under extinction conditions. This is therefore a type of latent learning previously demonstrated only for sodium appetite.

Two studies examined whether nonreinforcement of a stimulus in multiple contexts, instead of a single context, would decrease renewal of conditioned fear in rats (as assessed by conditioned suppression of leverpressing). In Experiment 1, renewal was measured after 36 nonreinforced CS trials delivered during six extinction sessions in a single…

Separate groups of rats received 500 trials of lever-press training under autoshaping (food delivery followed 10-second lever presentations, or occurred immediately following a response); operant conditioning (responding was necessary for food delivery); and classical conditioning (food followed lever presentations regardless of responding). Each group then received 500 trials on an omission procedure in which food was omitted on trials with a response. Another group received 1000 trials on the omission procedure, and a fifth group, random control, received 1000 uncorrelated presentations of lever and food. The autoshaping, operant, and classical groups reached high response levels by the end of initial training. Acquisition was fastest in the autoshaping group. Responding remained consistently low in the control group. The omission group responded at a level between the control group and the other three groups. During omission training, responding in these three groups declined to the omission-group level. During omission training, the rats continued contacting the lever frequently after leverpressing had declined. Response maintenance under omission training seems not to require topographic similarity between the response and reinforcer-elicited consummatory behaviors.

The current studies were designed to evaluate whether incentive motivation for palatable food is altered after manipulations of opioid, GABAergic, and dopaminergic transmission within the nucleus accumbens. A progressive ratio schedule was used to measure lever-pressing for sugar pellets after microinfusion of drugs into the nucleus accumbens in non-food-deprived rats. The mu opioid agonist D-Ala2, NMe-Phe4, Glyo15-enkephalin and the indirect dopamine agonist amphetamine induced a marked increase in break point and correct lever-presses; the GABA(A) agonist muscimol did not affect breakpoint or lever-presses. The data suggest that opioid, dopaminergic, and GABAergic systems within the accumbens differentially modulate food-seeking behavior through mechanisms related to hedonic evaluation of food, incentive salience, and control of motor feeding circuits, respectively.

Effects of experience with Pavlovian autoshaping procedures on lever-press autoshaping conditioned response (CR) performance and 3H-8-OH-DPAT-labeled binding of 5-HT(1a) receptors as well as 125I-LSD-labeled binding of 5-HT(2a) receptors were evaluated in four groups of male Long-Evans hooded rats. Two groups of rats (Group Paired High CR and Group Paired Low CR) received Pavlovian autoshaping procedures wherein the presentation of a lever (conditioned stimulus, CS) was followed by the response-independent presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus, US). Rats in Group Paired High CR (n=12) showed more rapid CR acquisition and higher asymptotic levels of lever-press autoshaping CR performance relative to rats in Group Low CR (n=12). Group Omission (n=9) received autoshaping with an omission contingency, such that performing the lever-press autoshaping CR resulted in the cancellation the food US, while Group Random (n=9) received presentations of lever CS and food US randomly with respect to one another. Though Groups Omission and Random did not differ in lever-press autoshaping CR performance, Group Omission showed significantly lower levels of 3H-8-OH-DPAT-labeled 5-HT(1a) binding in post-synaptic areas (frontal cortex, septum, caudate putamen), as well as significantly higher plasma corticosterone levels than Group Random. In addition, Group Random showed higher levels of 3H-8-OH-DPAT-labeled 5-HT(1a) binding in pre-synaptic somatodendritic autoreceptors on dorsal raphe nucleus relative to each of the other three groups. Autoradiographic analysis of 125I-LSD-labeled 5-HT(2a) receptor binding revealed no significant differences between Groups Paired High CR and Paired Low CR or between Groups Omission and Random in any brain regions.

Portfolio Diversification with Commodity Futures: Properties of Levered Futures This study extends previous work on the impact of commodity futures on portfolio performance by explicitly incorporating levered futures into the portfolio optimization problem. Using data on nine individual commodity

On long-duration trips outside of the magnetosphere, astronauts will be exposed to protons and to heavy particles which can affect their performance of required tasks. It is essential to determine the range of behaviors that might be affected by exposure to these types of radiation in order to understand the nature of behavioral deficits and to develop effective countermeasures. The present experiment examined the ability of rats to make an operant response following exposure to protons (250 MeV, 4 Gy) or 56 Fe particles (1 GeV/n, 1 or 2 Gy). Following irradiation, rats were trained to press a lever in order to obtain food reinforcement. They were then placed on an ascending fixed-ratio schedule from FR-1 (each leverpress rewarded with a food pellet) through FR-35 (35 leverpresses required for 1 food pellet). Rats exposed to 4 Gy of protons or 1 Gy of 56 Fe particles responded similarly to controls, increasing their rate of responding as the ratio increased. However, rats exposed to 2 Gy of 56 Fe particles failed to increase their rate of responding at ratios greater than FR-20, indicating that rats exposed to 2 Gy of 56 Fe particles cannot respond appropriately to increasing work requirements. (author)

Full Text Available Although cognitive theory has implicated judgement bias in various psychopathologies, its role in decision making under risk remains relatively unexplored. In the present study we assessed the effects of cognitive judgment bias on risky choices in rats. First, we trained and tested the animals on the rat version of the probability-discounting task. During discrete trials, the rats chose between two levers; a press on the ‘small/certain’ lever always resulted in the delivery of one reward pellet, whereas a press on the ‘large/risky’ lever resulted in the delivery of four pellets. However, the probability of receiving a reward from the ‘large/risky’ lever gradually decreased over the four trial blocks. Subsequently, the rats were re-trained and evaluated on a series of ambiguous-cue interpretation tests, which permitted their classification according to the display of ‘optimistic’ or ‘pessimistic’ traits. Because dopamine has been implicated in both: risky choices and optimism, in the last experiment, we compared the reactivity of the dopaminergic system in the ‘optimistic’ and ‘pessimistic’ animals using the apomorphine (2mg/kg s.c. sensitivity test. We demonstrated that as risk increased, the proportion of risky lever choices decreased significantly slower in ‘optimists’ compared with ‘pessimists’ and that these differences between the two groups of rats were associated with different levels of dopaminergic system reactivity. Our findings suggest that cognitive judgement bias, risky decision-making and dopamine are linked, and they provide a foundation for further investigation of the behavioural traits and cognitive processes that influence risky choices in animal models.

The Eco-electric industry group (FFIE, FGME, Gimelec, IGNES, SERCE) has conducted a study to evaluate the energy saving potential of active energy efficiency solutions in the residential and commercial building sectors. Based on field implementations and demonstrators, it has been demonstrated that active energy efficiency can sustainably achieve substantial savings for households, companies and public authorities. Energy Efficiency - Lever for the energy transition presents the results and conclusions of that study, alongside with recommendations for public authority in terms of building retrofit policy for putting France on the best possible 'trajectory' from a budgetary and environmental point of view. (author)

Nicotine and D-amphetamine can strengthen reinforcing effects of unconditioned visual stimuli. We investigated whether these reinforcement-enhancing effects reflect a slowing of stimulus habituation and depend on food restriction. Adult male ratspressed an active lever to illuminate a cue light during daily 60-min sessions. Depending on the experiment, rats were challenged with fixed or varying doses of D-amphetamine (0.25-2 mg/kg IP) and nicotine (0.025-0.2 mg/kg SC) or with the tobacco constituent norharman (0.03-10 μg/kg IV). Experiment 1 tested for possible reinforcement-enhancing effects of D-amphetamine and norharman. Experiment 2 investigated whether nicotine and amphetamine inhibited the spontaneous within-session decline in leverpressing. Experiment 3 assessed the effects of food restriction. Amphetamine (0.25-1 mg/kg) and nicotine (0.1 mg/kg) increased active leverpressing specifically (two- to threefold increase). The highest doses of nicotine and amphetamine also affected inactive lever responding (increase and decrease, respectively). With the visual reinforcer omitted, responding was largely extinguished. Neither drug appeared to slow habituation, as assessed by the within-session decline in leverpressing, and reinforcement-enhancing effects still occurred if the drugs were given after this decline had occurred. Food restriction enhanced the reinforcement-enhancing effect of amphetamine but not that of nicotine. Responding remained goal-directed after several weeks of testing. Low doses of D-amphetamine and nicotine produced reinforcement enhancement even in free-feeding subjects, independent of the spontaneous within-session decline in responding. Reinforcement enhancement by amphetamine, but not nicotine, was enhanced by concurrent subchronic food restriction.

Approach responses, consummatory behaviors, and directed motor responses maintained by food reward resemble autoshaping CRs and are increased by lower doses of ethanol. This study evaluated the effects of presession i.p. injections of ethanol doses (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.70. or 1.00 g/kg) on the acquisition of lever-press autoshaping CR performance in groups of male Long-Evans hooded rats. Paired groups received 15 daily sessions of Pavlovian autoshaping procedures, wherein the insertion of a retractable lever for 5 s (CS) was followed by the response-independent presentation of food (US). Ethanol facilitated lever-press autoshaping CR acquisition, as revealed by dose-related increases in the number of trials on which CRs were performed. The form of the dose-effect curve was inverted U-shaped with maximal responding induced during sessions 1-5 by the 0.70 g/kg ethanol dose. A similar dose-effect curve was observed during sessions 11-15, revealing that the effects of ethanol on autoshaping CR performance were relatively stable. A pseudoconditioning control group injected presession with 0.50 g/kg ethanol received training wherein the food US was presented randomly with respect to the lever CS. Few lever-presses were performed by the Random 0.50 group, indicating that ethanol's effects on autoshaping CR acquisition and maintenance observed in the Paired 0.50 group were not due to its psychomotor activating effects. A non-injection control group performed more autoshaping CRs than did the control group injected presession with saline, indicating that daily presession i.p. injections per se suppress autoshaping CR performance. Results reveal that low doses of ethanol enhance Pavlovian conditioning of directed motor and consummatory-like responding maintained by food reward. Implications for autoshaping accounts of impulsivity and drug abuse are considered.

Lever-propelled wheelchairs have been described as more efficient and less physically demanding than hand-rim-propelled wheelchairs. To evaluate a newly designed lever mechanism (MARC) in both one- and two-arm use, a series of wheelchair exercise tests were performed on a motor-driven treadmill.

Full Text Available Emotions can bias human decisions- for example depressed or anxious people tend to make pessimistic judgements while those in positive affective states are often more optimistic. Several studies have reported that affect contingent judgement biases can also be produced in animals. The animals, however, cannot self-report; therefore, the valence of their emotions, to date, could only be assumed. Here we present the results of an experiment where the affect-contingent judgement bias has been produced by objectively measured positive emotions. We trained rats in operant Skinner boxes to press one lever in response to one tone to receive a food reward and to press another lever in response to a different tone to avoid punishment by electric foot shock. After attaining a stable level of discrimination performance, the animals were subjected to either handling or playful, experimenter-administered manual stimulation - tickling. This procedure has been confirmed to induce a positive affective state in rats, and the 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalisations (rat laughter emitted by animals in response to tickling have been postulated to index positive emotions akin to human joy. During the tickling and handling sessions, the numbers of emitted high-frequency 50-kHz calls were scored. Immediately after tickling or handling, the animals were tested for their responses to a tone of intermediate frequency, and the pattern of their responses to this ambiguous cue was taken as an indicator of the animals' optimism. Our findings indicate that tickling induced positive emotions which are directly indexed in rats by laughter, can make animals more optimistic. We demonstrate for the first time a link between the directly measured positive affective state and decision making under uncertainty in an animal model. We also introduce innovative tandem-approach for studying emotional-cognitive interplay in animals, which may be of great value for understanding the emotional

A hydraulic press fitted with an adjustable torque wrench, together with a stand made of iron bars will form an auto-stop hydraulic press for making KBr disc in IR studies. Total material cost is about $100. All parts are readily available from the local hardware stores. The modified torque wrench is also useful to replace the lever in the standard laboratory press.

This paper presents the theoretical analysis of a simplified model of a ram press. The design of the ram press is based on the classical slider-crank mechanism. A force analysis of the press was performed for several successive positions of the driving lever (handle) and for a range of values of certain dimensionless ...

The present experiment tested whether the elasticity of demand for self-administered cocaine in rats is dose-dependent. Subjects leverpressed for three different doses of intravenous cocaine - 0.11, 0.33, and 1.0 mg/kg/infusion - on a demand procedure where the number of leverpresses required per infusion increased within a session. The main finding was that demand for the 0.11 mg/kg dose was more elastic than it was for the two larger doses. There was no difference in demand elasticity between the 0.33 and 1.0 mg/kg doses. These results parallel findings previously reported in monkeys. The present study also demonstrated that a within-session procedure can be used to generate reliable demand curves.

The effects of intrahippocampal administration of nicotine and the neurosteroids pregnenolone sulfate and allopregnanolone on acquiring the lever-press response and extinction in a Skinner box were examined using voluntary alcohol-drinking rats. A free-choice drinking procedure that implies early availability of the alcoholic solution (10% ethanol v/v+3% glucose w/v in distilled water) was used. Alcohol and control rats were deprived of food and assigned at random to six groups. Each group received two consecutive intrahippocampal (dorsal CA1) injections immediately after 1-h of drinking ethanol and before the free lever-press response shaping and extinction session. The groups were: saline-saline; saline-pregnenolone sulfate (5 ng, 24 microM); saline-allopregnanolone (0.2 microg, 1.26 microM); nicotine (4.6 microg, 20 mM)-saline; nicotine-pregnenolone sulfate; nicotine-allopregnanolone. Blood alcohol concentrations were assessed the day before conditioning. The combination of the oral self-administration of ethanol and the intrahippocampal injection of nicotine deteriorated the ability to acquire the lever-press response. This effect was neutralized by intrahippocampal pregnenolone sulfate (negative modulator of the GABA(A) receptor complex), and it was not affected by intrahippocampal allopregnanolone (positive GABA receptor complex A modulator). Pregnenolone sulfate and allopregnanolone had no effects per se on lever-press acquisition, neither in alcohol-drinking rats nor in controls. Alcohol consumption facilitated operant extinction just as anxiolytics that act as positive modulators of the GABA receptor complex A receptors do, possibly reducing the anxiety or aversion related to non-reinforcement. This effect was increased by intrahippocampal nicotine.

In India the health services are unable to meet the real needs of the poor. The colonial policy of exploitation, expropriation and plunder created widespread disruption in the way of life of the Indian people. The colonialism destroyed the health culture of India and created a Western bias in the health services which continues to this day. The bias has extend to research - for example, by postulating a correlation between malnutrition and mental retardation. The commitment of the current political leadership to bypass the medical establishment and go directly to the people has created a favorable setting to challenge the basic scientific, sociological and economic premises of the earlier approach to development of the health services in India, and to formulate a new approach to development of the health services in India, and to formulate a new approach to take its place. The main premise of Another Development in the health services is to begin with the people - a framework is designed for a health service system particularly tailored to meet the needs of the people. Efforts to relieve the suffering caused by health problems can contribute to the initiation of political, economic and social action. In this context, the formulation and implementation of Another Development in Health acquires much significance: 1) the very alleviation of suffering has political significance, because it narrows the gap between the ruling classes and the masses; 2) Another Development in Health would provide an entry point for change agents, who could use the opportunity to work with the people to initiate changes in other social and economic fields; and 3) by generating social awareness, Another Development in Health may work as a lever for promoting similar developments in other social and economic fields.

Atomic force microscopes typically require knowledge of the cantilever spring constant and optical lever sensitivity in order to accurately determine the force from the cantilever deflection. In this study, we investigate a technique to calibrate the optical lever sensitivity of rectangular cantilevers that does not require contact to be made with a surface. This noncontact approach utilizes the method of Sader et al. [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 3967 (1999)] to calibrate the spring constant of the cantilever in combination with the equipartition theorem [J. L. Hutter and J. Bechhoefer, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 64, 1868 (1993)] to determine the optical lever sensitivity. A comparison is presented between sensitivity values obtained from conventional static mode force curves and those derived using this noncontact approach for a range of different cantilevers in air and liquid. These measurements indicate that the method offers a quick, alternative approach for the calibration of the optical lever sensitivity

Atomic force microscopes typically require knowledge of the cantilever spring constant and optical lever sensitivity in order to accurately determine the force from the cantilever deflection. In this study, we investigate a technique to calibrate the optical lever sensitivity of rectangular cantilevers that does not require contact to be made with a surface. This noncontact approach utilizes the method of Sader et al. [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 3967 (1999)] to calibrate the spring constant of the cantilever in combination with the equipartition theorem [J. L. Hutter and J. Bechhoefer, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 64, 1868 (1993)] to determine the optical lever sensitivity. A comparison is presented between sensitivity values obtained from conventional static mode force curves and those derived using this noncontact approach for a range of different cantilevers in air and liquid. These measurements indicate that the method offers a quick, alternative approach for the calibration of the optical lever sensitivity.

An autoshaping procedure in which the illumination of a lever was predictive of food reinforcement was used to compare learning in rats with micrencephaly induced by irradiation on the 16th day of gestation and in sham-irradiated controls. Both groups showed equivalent levels of lever-directed activity, and the micrencephalic animals differentiated as well as the control animals between the predictive lever and a nonpredictive lever. The micrencephalic animals were able to redistribute their lever-directed activity when the significance of the levers was reversed and did so more readily than the control animals. Results support the claim that association learning survives either traumatic or developmental neocortical damage and have implications for remedial procedures following both head injury and developmental cerebral pathology in humans

An autoshaping procedure in which the illumination of a lever was predictive of food reinforcement was used to compare learning in rats with micrencephaly induced by irradiation on the 16th day of gestation and in sham-irradiated controls. Both groups showed equivalent levels of lever-directed activity, and the micrencephalic animals differentiated as well as the control animals between the predictive lever and a nonpredictive lever. The micrencephalic animals were able to redistribute their lever-directed activity when the significance of the levers was reversed and did so more readily than the control animals. Results support the claim that association learning survives either traumatic or developmental neocortical damage and have implications for remedial procedures following both head injury and developmental cerebral pathology in humans.

Oxytocin has been shown to decrease cocaine taking and seeking in male rats, suggesting potential treatment efficacy for drug addiction. In the present study, we extended these findings to the assessment of cocaine seeking and taking in female rats. Further, we made direct comparisons of oxytocin’s impact on cocaine induced locomotor activity in both males and females. In females, systemic oxytocin (0.3, 1.0, 3.0 mg/kg) attenuated leverpressing for cocaine during self-administration and oxyt...

Rats were exposed to a fixed interval 30 s schedule that produced opportunities to run of equal or unequal durations to assess the effect of differences in duration on responding. Each duration was signaled by a different stimulus. Wheel-running reinforcer duration pairs were 30 s 30 s, 50 s 10 s, and 55 s 5 s. An analysis of median postreinforcement pause duration and mean local lever-pressing rates broken down by previous reinforcer duration and duration of signaled upcoming reinforcer showed that postreinforcement pause duration was affected by the duration of the previous reinforcer but not by the stimulus signaling the duration of the upcoming reinforcer. Local lever-pressing rates were not affected by either previous or upcoming reinforcer duration. In general, the results are consistent with indifference between these durations obtained using a concurrent choice procedure.

Rationale Cannabinoid antagonists purportedly have greater effects in reducing the intake of highly palatable food compared to less palatable food. However, this assertion is based on free-feeding studies in which the amount of palatable food eaten under baseline conditions is often confounded with other variables, such as unequal access to both food options and differences in qualitative features of the foods. Objective We attempted to reduce these confounds by using a model of choice that programmed the delivery rates of sucrose and carrot-flavored pellets. Methods Lever-pressing of ten lean (Fa/Fa or Fa/fa) and ten obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats was placed under three conditions in which programmed ratios for food pellets on two levers were 5:1, 1:1, and 1:5. In Phase 1, responses on the two levers produced one type of pellet (sucrose or carrot); in Phase 2, responses on one lever produced sucrose pellets and on the other lever produced carrot pellets. After responses stabilized under each food ratio, acute doses of rimonabant (0, 3, and 10 mg/kg) were administered before experimental sessions. The number of reinforcers and responses earned per session under each ratio and from each lever was compared. Results and Conclusions Rimonabant reduced reinforcers in 1:5 and 5:1 food ratios in Phase 1, and across all ratios in Phase 2. Rimonabant reduced sucrose and carrot-flavored pellet consumption similarly; rimonabant did not affect bias toward sucrose, but increased sensitivity to amount differences in lean rats. This suggests that relative amount of food, not palatability, may be an important behavioral mechanism in the effects of rimonabant. PMID:24398820

Cannabinoid antagonists purportedly have greater effects in reducing the intake of highly palatable food compared to less palatable food. However, this assertion is based on free-feeding studies in which the amount of palatable food eaten under baseline conditions is often confounded with other variables, such as unequal access to both food options and differences in qualitative features of the foods. We attempted to reduce these confounds by using a model of choice that programmed the delivery rates of sucrose and carrot-flavored pellets. Leverpressing of ten lean (Fa/Fa or Fa/fa) and ten obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats was placed under three conditions in which programmed ratios for food pellets on two levers were 5:1, 1:1, and 1:5. In phase 1, responses on the two levers produced one type of pellet (sucrose or carrot); in phase 2, responses on one lever produced sucrose pellets and on the other lever produced carrot pellets. After responses stabilized under each food ratio, acute doses of rimonabant (0, 3, and 10 mg/kg) were administered before experimental sessions. The number of reinforcers and responses earned per session under each ratio and from each lever was compared. Rimonabant reduced reinforcers in 1:5 and 5:1 food ratios in phase 1, and across all ratios in phase 2. Rimonabant reduced sucrose and carrot-flavored pellet consumption similarly; rimonabant did not affect bias toward sucrose, but increased sensitivity to amount differences in lean rats. This suggests that relative amount of food, not palatability, may be an important behavioral mechanism in the effects of rimonabant.

We set out to investigate if volitional components in the descending tracts of the spinal cord white matter can be accessed with multi-electrode array (MEA) recording technique. Rats were trained to press a lever connected to a haptic device with force feedback to receive sugar pellets. A flexible-substrate multi-electrode array was chronically implanted into the dorsal column of the cervical spinal cord. Field potentials and multi-unit activities were recorded from the descending axons of the corticospinal tract while the rat performed a leverpressing task. Forelimb forces, recorded with the sensor attached to the lever, were reconstructed using the hand position data and the neural signals through multiple trials over three weeks. The regression coefficients found from the trial set were cross-validated on the other trials recorded on same day. Approximately 30 trials of at least 2 seconds were required for accurate model estimation. The maximum correlation coefficient between the actual and predicted force was 0.7 in the test set. Positional information and its interaction with neural signals improved the correlation coefficient by 0.1 to 0.15. These results suggest that the volitional information contained in the corticospinal tract can be extracted with multi-channel neural recordings made with parenchymal electrodes.

Methylmercury chloride (MMC) was given to pregnant rats on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th day after conception in doses of 0.05 and 2.0 mg/kg/day. The female offspring of these animals were tested 90 days after birth for learning ability using operant conditioning procedures. The rats were kept at 90% of their normal body weight and trained in a lever-box to press a bar in order to obtain a food pellet. Significant differences in the acquisition speed became apparent when the ratio of bar presses to reward was increased in a classical contingency of differential reinforcement of high rates even at MMC-doses of 4 x 0.05 mg/kg. These differences were not found in the general motility level nor in motor coordination.

Dopamine (DA) and DAD{sub 2} receptors (D2R) have been implicated in obesity and are thought to be involved in the rewarding properties of food. Osborne-Mendel (OM) rats are susceptible to diet induced obesity (DIO) while S5B/P (S5B) rats are resistant when given a high-fat diet. Here we hypothesized that the two strains would differ in high-fat food self-administration (FSA) and that the D2R agonist bromocriptine (BC) would differently affect their behavior. Ad-libitum fed OM and S5B/P rats were tested in a FSA operant chamber and were trained to leverpress for high-fat food pellets under a fixed-ratio (FR1) and a progressive ratio (PR) schedule. After sixteen days of PR sessions, rats were treated with three different doses of BC (1, 10 and 20 mg/kg). No significant differences were found between the two strains in the number of active leverpresses. BC treatment (10 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg) increased the number of active leverpresses (10 mg/kg having the strongest effect) whereas it decreased rat chow intake in the home cage with equivalent effects in both strains. These effects were not observed on the day of BC administration but on the day following its administration. Our results suggest that these two strains have similar motivation for procuring high fat food using this paradigm. BC increased operant responding for high-fat pellets but decreased chow intake in both strains, suggesting that D2R stimulation may have enhanced the motivational drive to procure the fatty food while correspondingly decreasing the intake of regular food. These findings suggest that susceptibility to dietary obesity (prior to the onset of obesity) may not affect operant motivation for a palatable high fat food and that differential susceptibility to obesity may be related to differential sensitivity to D2R stimulation.

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects of a nondrug alternative reinforcer and feeding conditions on the acquisition of cocaine self-administration. Rats were autoshaped to press a lever that resulted in a 0.2 mg/kg i.v. cocaine infusion. Responses on the lever were monitored during six consecutive autoshaping sessions that occurred each day. A retractable lever was inserted into the operant chamber on a random time 60 s schedule 10 times per session for six sessions that began each hour. Each day the six autoshaping sessions were followed by a 6-h cocaine self-administration session. During self-administration the lever remained extended, and each response on the lever resulted in a cocaine infusion (0.2 mg/kg). The criterion for acquisition of cocaine-reinforced behavior was met when there were 5 consecutive days during which the mean number of infusions during the 6-h self-administration session was at least 100. This procedure was repeated daily until the criterion was met or 30 days elapsed. The rats were also trained to respond on lick-operated automatic drinking devices that delivered 0.05 ml water or a glucose and saccharin solution (G + S) contingent upon each lick response. Five groups of 12-14 rats were compared. The first four groups constituted a 2 x 2 factorial design whereby either G + S or water was available in the home cage for 3 weeks before autoshaping began and G + S or water was available in the operant chamber during autoshaping. These groups were limited to 20 g food per day and all had free access to water.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The purpose of the present study was to characterize cue-induced reinstatement of ethanol seeking in selectively bred Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats trained to leverpress for ethanol in 30-min self-administration sessions. Four responses on an "active" lever led to presentation of 0.1 ml of 15% (vol/vol) ethanol by a liquid dipper and concurrent activation of a set of discrete light and auditory cues. In a 70-min extinction/reinstatement session, responding was first extinguished for 60 min. Subsequently, different stimuli were delivered in a noncontingent manner and reinstatement of nonreinforced responding was assessed. Fifteen presentations of the ethanol-predictive stimulus complex, including the dipper cup containing 5 or 15% ethanol, potently reinstated responding on the previously active lever. The magnitude of reinstatement increased with the number of stimulus presentations and concentration of ethanol presented by the dipper cup. Fifteen presentations of the ethanol-predictive stimulus complex, including the dipper cup filled with water (0% ethanol), did not produce any reinstatement. These results indicate that (1) noncontingent presentations of the ethanol-predictive stimulus complex may reinstate ethanol seeking in sP rats and (2) the orosensory properties of ethanol may play an important role in reinstatement of ethanol seeking in sP rats. The latter finding concurs with clinical observations that odor and taste of alcoholic beverages elicit immediate craving responses in abstinent alcoholics.

Opioid abuse is a major problem around the world. Identifying environmental factors that contribute to opioid abuse and addiction is necessary for decreasing this epidemic. In rodents, environmental enrichment protects against the development of low dose stimulant self-administration, but studies examining the effect of enrichment and isolation (compared to standard housing) on the development of intravenous opioid self-administration have not been conducted. The present study investigated the role of environmental enrichment on self-administration of the short-acting μ-opioid remifentanil. Rats were raised in an enriched condition (Enr), standard condition (Std), or isolated condition (Iso) beginning at 21 days of age and were trained to leverpress for 1 or 3 μg/kg/infusion remifentanil in young adulthood. Acquisition of self-administration and responding during increasing fixed ratio requirements were assessed, and a dose-response curve was generated. In all phases, Enr ratsleverpressed significantly less than Std and Iso rats, with Enr ratspressing between 9 and 40% the amount of Iso rats. Enr rats did not acquire remifentanil self-administration when trained with 1 μg/kg/infusion, did not increase responding over increasing FR when trained at either dose, and their dose-response curves were flattened compared to Std and Iso rats. When expressed as economic demand curves, Enr rats displayed a decrease in both essential value (higher α) and reinforcer intensity (Q 0 ) compared to Std and Iso rats at the 1 μg/kg/infusion training dose. Environmental enrichment reduced remifentanil intake, suggesting that social and environmental novelty may protect against opioid abuse.

21Key words: Lever Brothers and Unilever; South African income tax; source of income; interest; the “practical man”; the .... facilities, and he housed his employees in a model village of well-built homes on the factory site. ... be cancelled and any excess of the value of the shares over the debt would be adjusted by a money.

This document describes a project designed to explore the possibilities of children's learning in mechanics. The principle of the lever, one example of a simple machine, was used in the form of a balance toy. The apparatus was set up as a game in a specially devised learning center. The children made non-verbal predictions as to which way the bar…

Lever Brothers, the South African tax case that formed the basis of this research, was concerned with determining the source of interest income. In its time, this was one of the landmark cases and established tax principles that were valid for 54 years, until superseded by changes to legislation. The research presented a ...

Apr 29, 2016 ... Levers for change: philanthropy in select South East Asian countries ... the low donor awareness of societal needs and the lack of donor education and skills development. ... Tourism is an important driver of economic growth throughout Southeast Asia. ... Supporting sustainable economic growth in ASEAN.

The goal of this project is to research the effectiveness of a controlled haptic force feedback shift lever that can accurately reproduce the behavior of a manual gear shift during driving, and that can also be used to control interior and comfort functions in the car.

This level sets the stage for the design philosophy called “Triadic Game Design” (TGD). This design philosophy can be summarized with the following sentence: it takes two to tango, but it takes three to design a meaningful game or a game with a purpose. Before the philosophy is further explained, this level will first delve into what is meant by a meaningful game or a game with a purpose. Many terms and definitions have seen the light and in this book I will specifically orient at digital games that aim to have an effect beyond the context of the game itself. Subsequently, a historical overview is given of the usage of games with a serious purpose which starts from the moment we human beings started to walk on our feet till our contemporary society. It turns out that we have been using games for all kinds of non-entertainment purposes for already quite a long time. With this introductory material in the back of our minds, I will explain the concept of TGD by means of a puzzle. After that, the protagonist of this book, the game Levee Patroller, is introduced. Based on the development of this game, the idea of TGD, which stresses to balance three different worlds, the worlds of Reality, Meaning, and Play, came into being. Interested? Then I suggest to quickly “press start!”

Wheel running reinforces the behavior that generates it and produces a preference for the context that follows it. The goal of the present study was to demonstrate both of these effects in the same animals. Twelve male Wistar rats were first exposed to a fixed-interval 30 s schedule of wheel-running reinforcement. The operant was lever-pressing and the reinforcer was the opportunity to run for 45 s. Following this phase, the method of place conditioning was used to test for a rewarding aftereffect following operant sessions. On alternating days, half the rats responded for wheel-running reinforcement while the other half remained in their home cage. Upon completion of the wheel-running reinforcement sessions, rats that ran and rats that remained in their home cages were placed into a chamber of a conditioned place preference (CPP) apparatus for 30 min. Each animal received six pairings of a distinctive context with wheel running and six pairings of a different context with their home cage. On the test day, animals were free to move between the chambers for 10 min. Results showed a conditioned place preference for the context associated with wheel running; however, time spent in the context associated with running was not related to wheel-running rate, lever-pressing rate, or post-reinforcement pause duration. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fisher, Marissa; Dobberthien, Brennen; Tessier, Anthony; Yahya, Atiyah [University of Alberta, University of Alberta, Cross Cancer Institute and University of Alberta, Cross Cancer Institute and University of Alberta (Canada)

2016-08-15

Purpose: To investigate the response of taurine (Tau) protons as a function of PRESS echo times, TE{sub 1} and TE{sub 2}, to determine two TE combinations that can be employed to estimate the T{sub 2} (transverse relaxation) value of Tau at 9.4 T. The Tau protons are involved in J-coupling interactions; therefore, the two timing combinations should result in similar signal losses due to J-coupling. Methods: Experiments were performed with a 9.4 T animal MRI scanner. Numerical calculations of the response of Tau as a function of PRESS TE{sub 1} and TE{sub 2} were calculated and two TE combinations that yield a similar area for the 3.42 ppm Tau resonance were selected as optimal. The timings were verified on a 50 mM Tau/10 mM Cr (creatine) phantom. In-vivo experiments were performed on four rats. Spectra were acquired with the timings from a voxel placed in the rat brain and Tau peak areas were fit to monoexponentially decaying functions to obtain T{sub 2} values. Results: The PRESS TE combinations selected for Tau T{sub 2} determination are (TE{sub 1}, TE{sub 2}) = (17 ms, 10 ms) and (80 ms, 70 ms); the signal yield for the two timings differs by 5 % theoretically. The average Tau T{sub 2} for the four rats was found to be 106 ms with a standard deviation of 12 ms. Conclusions: We have demonstrated that acquiring PRESS spectra with (TE{sub 1}, TE{sub 2}) = (17 ms, 10 ms) and (TE{sub 1}, TE{sub 2}) = (80 ms, 70 ms) enables T{sub 2} corrected measures of Tau to be obtained at 9.4 T.

Pavlovian autoshaping conditioned responses (CRs) are complex sequences of conditioned stimulus (CS)-directed skeletal-motor responses that are elicited by CS objects predictive of food unconditioned stimulus (US). Autoshaping CRs are observed under conditions known to be conducive to elevations in plasma corticosterone levels, as, for example, in response to the eating of food as well as in response to signals predictive of food. Two experiments investigated the relationships between Pavlovian autoshaping procedures, the performance of Pavlovian autoshaping CRs, and plasma corticosterone levels in male Long-Evans rats. In Experiment 1, rats in the CS-US paired group (n=30) were given 20 daily sessions of Pavlovian autoshaping training wherein the insertion of a retractable lever CS was followed by the response-independent presentation of the food US. Tail blood samples obtained after the 20th autoshaping session revealed higher plasma corticosterone levels in the CS-US paired group than in the CS-US random control group (n=10). In Experiment 2, rats (n=35) were assessed for basal plasma corticosterone levels 2 weeks prior to autoshaping training. Plasma samples obtained immediately following the first autoshaping session, and prior to the acquisition of lever-press autoshaping CR performance, revealed higher plasma corticosterone levels in the CS-US paired group (n=24) relative to basal levels. This effect was not observed in the CS-US random control group (n=11). Data suggest that corticosterone release is a physiological endocrine Pavlovian CR induced by lever CS-food US pairings during Pavlovian autoshaping procedures, rather than a by-product of autoshaping CR performance. Implications of the link between autoshaping procedures and corticosterone release are discussed.

Full Text Available We assessed whether the presence of contextual cues paired with alcohol would disrupt rats’ capacity to express appropriate goal-directed action control. Rats were first given differential context conditioning such that one set of contextual cues was paired with the injection of ethanol and a second, distinctive set of cues was paired with the injection of saline. All rats were then trained in a third, neutral context to press one lever for grain pellets and another lever for sucrose pellets. They were then given two extinction tests to evaluate their ability to choose between the two actions in response to the devaluation of one of the two food outcomes with one test conducted in the alcohol-paired context and the other conducted in the control (saline-paired context. In the control context, rats exhibited goal-directed action control; i.e., they were able selectively to withhold the action that previously earned the now devalued outcome. However, these same rats were impaired when tested in the alcohol-paired context, performing both actions at the same rate regardless of the current value of their respective outcomes. Subsequent testing revealed that the rats were capable of overcoming this impairment if they were giving response-contingent feedback about the current value of the food outcomes. These results provide a clear demonstration of the disruptive influence that alcohol-paired cues can exert on decision-making in general and goal-directed action selection and choice in particular.

Full Text Available Since the torsion bar represents just an elastic element, the energy dissipation in suspensions problem is highly relevant for its application. Currently in quality of a dissipation device in torsion suspension are used the hydraulic dampers with movable members reciprocating translational motion respectively to the housing or lever-type hydraulic shock absorbers of piston and vane types, with the movable member’s rotational movement respectively to the housing. These dampers are implementing only throttle-valve performance type, associated with these devices’ functional capacities and depending on design constraints. The paper presents a synthesis of innovative lever-blade dampers, whose performance is not related to the value of working chambers inner pressure. Their essential peculiarity relates to the mechanical control loop presence in the structure that determines a close relationship between the performance and the value of the shock absorber movable element displacement relatively to the body. In the process of synthesis carried out tested are the appropriate methods, built on the basis of technical systems’ modeling with modified kinematic graphs. The synthesis results are shown in the form of two structurally implemented samples. Performed is a comparative analysis of the samples with their basic performance determining.

In this work we report the analysis of typical errors arising from an Andrade-Chalmers lever cam, used as machine for mechanical constant stress tests. A procedure to obtain the magnitude of the applied stress as a function of the rotation of the lever arm was developed by used a mechanism which allow us to simulate the sample deformation. The used physical mechanism involves LVDT and Load Cell transducers. The characteristic parameters of the lever arm were founded using a least squares criterion procedure on the digitalized values of transducers signals. The departure existing between an actual lever and ideal one was fully analyzed. (Author) 18 refs

Over the past two decades, mental health reform in Australia has received unprecedented government attention. This study explored how five policy levers (organisation, regulation, community education, finance and payment) were used by the Australian Federal Government to implement mental health reforms. Australian Government publications, including the four mental health plans (published in 1992, 1998, 2003 and 2008) were analysed according to policy levers used to drive reform across five priority areas: [1] human rights and community attitudes; [2] responding to community need; [3] service structures; [4] service quality and effectiveness; and [5] resources and service access. Policy levers were applied in varying ways; with two or three levers often concurrently used to implement a single initiative or strategy. For example, changes to service structures were achieved using various combinations of all five levers. Attempts to improve service quality and effectiveness were instead made through a single lever-regulation. The use of some levers changed over time, including a move away from prescriptive, legislative use of regulation, towards a greater focus on monitoring service standards and consumer outcomes. Patterns in the application of policy levers across the National Mental Health Strategy, as identified in this analysis, represent a novel way of conceptualising the history of mental health reform in Australia. An improved understanding of the strategic targeting and appropriate utilisation of policy levers may assist in the delivery and evaluation of evidence-based mental health reform in the future.

The effects of three-week daily intrastriatal GABA (45 mcg) and bicucullin (5 mcg) microinjections on operant performance in the Skinner's box were studied in rats. GABA was shown to facilitate the operant responses (the rate of leverpressings increased, spontaneous motor activity became optimized). Bicucullin produced the opposite effects, i.e., the operant skill practically disappeared at the second-third week of injections. The operant behaviour was substantially influences by such factors as neurosurgery trauma, narcosis, and injections as demonstrated in control experiments. The findings suggest the involvement of GABAergic neostriatal system in realization of conditioned motor alimentary behaviour.

Background: Diagnosing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture based on a physical examination remains a challenge for both surgeons and physical therapists. The lever sign test was developed to overcome the practical limitations of other tests and to optimize diagnosis. An evaluation of the measurement properties of the lever sign test is needed to make adequate interpretations in practice. Purpose: To evaluate the reliability and diagnostic value of the lever sign test. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. Methods: A total of 94 patients were recruited between November 2014 and July 2016. Patients were included if they were at least 16 years old, suffered from knee trauma, and had indications for knee arthroscopic surgery. Lever sign, anterior drawer, Lachman, and pivot-shift test outcomes were examined by an orthopaedic/trauma surgeon and a physical therapist. A test-retest design was used to investigate interrater reliability. Moreover, the lever sign test outcomes, alone and in combination with the other diagnostic tests, were compared with arthroscopic results, which served as the gold standard for the test’s diagnostic value. Results: The lever sign test and pivot-shift test had kappa values exceeding 0.80 for interrater reliability. The kappa values for the anterior drawer test and Lachman test were 0.80 and 0.77, respectively. The lever sign test showed the highest specificity (100%) and the lowest sensitivity (39%) when compared with the other 3 tests. Moreover, its positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 65%, respectively, while an accuracy of 71% was calculated. Clustering the lever sign test parallel with the other 3 tests resulted in the highest accuracy of 91%. Conclusion: The lever sign test appears to have high interrater reliability and is the most specific test, showing a maximal positive predictive value. A positive lever sign test result indicates an ACL rupture. These results support the added value

Overeating beyond individuals' homeostatic needs critically contributes to obesity. The neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying the motivation to consume excessive foods with high calories are not fully understood. The present study examined whether a pharmacological stressor, yohimbine, enhances the motivation to procure food reward with an emphasis on comparisons between standard lab chow and high-fat foods. The effects of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptor blockade by a CRF1-selective antagonist NBI on the stress-enhanced motivation for food reward were also assessed. Male Sprague-Dawley rats with chow available ad libitum in their home cages were trained to press a lever under a progressive ratio schedule for deliveries of either standard or high-fat food pellets. For testing yohimbine stress effects, rats received an intraperitoneal administration of yohimbine 10 min before start of the test sessions. For testing effects of CRF1 receptor blockade on stress responses, NBI was administered 20 min prior to yohimbine challenge. The rats emitted higher levels of lever responses to procure the high-fat food pellets compared with their counterparts on standard food pellets. Yohimbine challenge facilitated lever responses for the reward in all of the rats, whereas the effect was more robust in the rats on high-fat food pellets compared with their counterparts on standard food pellets. An inhibitory effect of pretreatment with NBI was observed on the enhancing effect of yohimbine challenge but not on the responses under baseline condition without yohimbine administration. Stress challenge significantly enhanced the motivation of satiated rats to procure extra food reward, especially the high-fat food pellets. Activation of CRF1 receptors is required for the stress-enhanced motivation for food reward. These results may have implications for our better understanding of the biobehavioral mechanisms of overeating and obesity.

This essay analyzes the view of evolution of Jan Lever (1922–2010), founder of the biology department at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and compares his view with those of J.H. Diemer and H. Dooyeweerd. Together with Dooyeweerd, Lever wrote a series of chapters on the species concept in

Introducing change is a difficult issue facing all health care systems. The use of various clinical governance levers can facilitate change in health care systems. The purpose of this paper is to define clinical governance levers, and to illustrate their use in a large-scale transformation. The empirical analysis deals with the in-depth study of a specific case, which is the organizational model for Ontario's cancer sector. The authors used a qualitative research strategy and drew the data from three sources: semi-structured interviews, analysis of documents, and non-participative observations. From the results, the authors identified three phases and several steps in the reform of cancer services in this province. The authors conclude that a combination of clinical governance levers was used to transform the system. These levers operated at different levels of the system to meet the targeted objectives. To exercise clinical governance, managers need to acquire new competencies. Mobilizing clinical governance levers requires in-depth understanding of the role and scope of clinical governance levers. This study provides a better understanding of clinical governance levers. Clinical governance levers are used to implement an organizational environment that is conducive to developing clinical practice, as well as to act directly on practices to improve quality of care.

A machine for pressing loose powder into pellets using a series of reciprocating motions has an interchangeable punch and die as its only accurately machines parts. The machine reciprocates horizontally between powder receiving and pressing positions. It reciprocates vertically to press, strip and release a pellet.

The modern world's understanding of American university press has long been shaped by university-press books. American university-press books are good international advertisements for the universities whose logos grace their spines. The growth of transnational scholarship and the expansion of digital communications networks are converging in ways…

The WordPress Bible provides a complete and thorough guide to the largest self hosted blogging tool. This guide starts by covering the basics of WordPress such as installing and the principles of blogging, marketing and social media interaction, but then quickly ramps the reader up to more intermediate to advanced level topics such as plugins, WordPress Loop, themes and templates, custom fields, caching, security and more. The WordPress Bible is the only complete resource one needs to learning WordPress from beginning to end.

The fully instrumented Resen Waves Lever Operated Pivoting Float LOPF wave energy buoy model has gone through the first stage of testing in regular waves in scale 1:25 of the North Sea wave conditions, in the 3D deep wave basin at the Hydraulic and Coastal Engineering Laboratory of Aalborg...... University in Denmark. The model size was 60cm W x 90cm L x 21cm H. The 60 cm width pointed towards the wave front. The LOPF buoy is characterized by a simple mechanical design with few moving parts and direct electrical output and it is taut moored to the sea bed, so all forces are referenced to the seabed...... for maximum energy output in regular as well as irregular waves. During storms the buoy pivots and streamlines itself to minimize loads on the mooring line. A conservative estimate shows that a full scale system for North Sea conditions has a float size width of 15 m that will, with 60% generator efficiency...

Geometric dimensions of the basic elements of a core lifter should be determined depending on the clamping conditions. The changes should be determined depending on the conditions of the core sample diameter, critical angle between the lever and the core samples in the necessary depth of submersion of the contact edge of the lever into its surface. The core lifter KTsRZ-80 with eccentric core reception makes it possible to arrange more efficiently the core removing elements on the edge of the band. The use of the core lifters with eccentric plan of arrangement of the levers and their optimal length increases the removal of the core sample.

Full Text Available Increasing evidence focuses on acetaldehyde (ACD as the mediator of the rewarding and motivational properties of ethanol. Indeed, ACD stimulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and it is self-administered under different conditions. Besides the dopaminergic transmission, the endocannabinoid system has been reported to play an important role in ethanol central effects, modulating primary alcohol rewarding effect, drug-seeking and relapse behaviour. Drug motivational properties are highlighted in operant paradigms which include response-contingent punishment, a behavioural equivalent of compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences.The aim of this study was thus to characterize ACD motivational and rewarding properties employing an operant-conflict paradigm in which rats, trained to leverpress in order to get ACD solution (0.9%, undergo extinction, reinstatement and conflict sessions, according to a modified Geller-Seifter procedur. Furthermore the role played by CB1 receptor system in modulating ACD-induced effects were investigated through the administration of CB1 receptor antagonist, AM281 (1 mg/kg, i.p. during the extinction-, relapse- and conflict experiments.Our results indicate that ACD is able to induce and maintain an operant behaviour, a high number of responses during extinction, an increase in the leverpresses during the reinstatement phase, and a higher emission of punished responses during the conflict experiments, when compared to controls.The administration of AM281 is able to decrease ACD-seeking behaviour during extinction, the number of leverpresses during reinstatement and to strongly decrease the punished responses for ACD. Our data strengthen the idea that ACD may be responsible for the central effects of ethanol, and pinpoint at the CB1 system as one of the neural substrates underlying its addictive properties.

The fully instrumented Resen Waves Lever Operated Pivoting Float LOPF wave energy buoy model has gone through the first stage of testing in regular waves in scale 1:25 of the North Sea wave conditions, in the 3D deep wave basin at the Hydraulic and Coastal Engineering Laboratory of Aalborg University in Denmark. The model size was 60cm W x 90cm L x 21cm H. The 60 cm width pointed towards the wave front. The LOPF buoy is characterized by a simple mechanical design with few moving parts and direct electrical output and it is taut moored to the sea bed, so all forces are referenced to the seabed for maximum energy output in regular as well as irregular waves. During storms the buoy pivots and streamlines itself to minimize loads on the mooring line. A conservative estimate shows that a full scale system for North Sea conditions has a float size width of 15 m that will, with 60% generator efficiency, produce 610 MWh/y (609.497 kWh/y) with an average power output of 69.6 kW, which requires a generator capacity of 700 kW. It is expected the generator efficiency can be increased to 90% in the future. More specific calculations (from EnergiNet) show that with one generator of 695 kW the expected power production is 585 MWh/y; with a generator of 250 kW and 100 kW, the expected power production is 481 MWh/y and 182 MWh/y respectively. In addition there are several areas for future improvements for increased power production. (Author)

High quality airborne gravity collection with a 2-axis, stabilized platform gravity instrument, such as with a Micro-g LaCoste Turnkey Airborne Gravity System (TAGS), is dependent on the aircraft's ability to maintain "straight and level" flight. However, during flight there is constant rotation about the aircraft's center of gravity. Standard practice is to install the scientific equipment close to the aircraft's estimated center of gravity to minimize the relative rotations with aircraft motion. However, there remain small offsets between the instruments. These distance offsets, the lever arm, are used to define the rigid-body, spatial relationship between the IMU, GPS antenna, and airborne gravimeter within the aircraft body frame. The Gravity for the Redefinition of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) project, which is collecting airborne gravity data across the U.S., uses a commercial software package for coupled IMU-GNSS aircraft positioning. This software incorporates a lever arm correction to calculate a precise position for the airborne gravimeter. The positioning software must do a coordinate transformation to relate each epoch of the coupled GNSS-IMU derived position to the position of the gravimeter within the constantly-rotating aircraft. This transformation requires three inputs: accurate IMU-measured aircraft rotations, GNSS positions, and lever arm distances between instruments. Previous studies show that correcting for the lever arm distances improves gravity results, but no sensitivity tests have been done to investigate how error in the lever arm distances affects the final airborne gravity products. This research investigates the effects of lever arm measurement error on airborne gravity data. GRAV-D lever arms are nominally measured to the cm-level using surveying equipment. "Truth" data sets will be created by processing GRAV-D flight lines with both relatively small lever arms and large lever arms. Then negative and positive incremental

This research explores the use of simultaneous heating and pressing techniques in order to enhance the mechanical properties of fly ash (FA) based geopolymer under relatively low temperature conditions to ensure minimum-porosity. Four effective parameters of pressing force, alkali activator...

Full Text Available Inbred Wistar Kyoto (WKY rats express inhibited temperament, increased sensitivity to stress, and exaggerated expressions of avoidance. A long-standing observation for leverpress escape/avoidance learning in rats is the duration of the warning signal (WS determines whether avoidance is expressed over escape. Outbred female Sprague-Dawley (SD rats trained with a 10-s WS efficiently escaped, but failed to exhibit avoidance; avoidance was exhibited to a high degree with WSs longer than 20-s. We examined this longstanding WS duration function and extended it to male SD and male and female WKY rats. A cross-over design with two WS durations (10 s or 60 s was employed. Rats were trained (20 trials/session in four phases: acquisition (10 sessions, extinction (10 sessions, re-acquisition (8 sessions and re-extinction (8 sessions. Consistent with the literature, female and male SD rats failed to express avoidance to an appreciable degree with a 10-s WS. When these rats were switched to a 60-s WS, performance levels in the initial session of training resembled the peak performance of rats trained with a 60-s WS. Therefore, the avoidance relationship was acquired, but not expressed at 10-s WS. Further, poor avoidance at 10-s does not adversely affect expression at 60-s. Failure to express avoidance with a 10-s WS likely reflects contrasting reinforcement value of avoidance, not a reduction in the amount of time available to respond or competing responses. In contrast, WKY rats exhibited robust avoidance with a 10-s WS, which was most apparent in female WKY rats. Exaggerated expression of avoidances by WKY rats, especially female rats, further confirms this inbred strain as a model of anxiety vulnerability.

Environmental stimulus control over drug relapse requires the retrieval of context-response-cocaine associations, maintained in long-term memory through active reconsolidation processes. Identifying the neural substrates of these phenomena is important from a drug addiction treatment perspective. The present study evaluated whether the agranular insular cortex (AI) plays a role in drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior and cocaine memory reconsolidation. Rats were trained to leverpress for cocaine infusions in a distinctive context, followed by extinction training in a different context. Rats in experiment 1 received bilateral microinfusions of vehicle or a GABA agonist cocktail (baclofen and muscimol (BM)) into the AI or the overlying somatosensory cortex (SSJ, anatomical control region) immediately before a test of drug-seeking behavior (i.e., non-reinforced leverpresses) in the previously cocaine-paired context. The effects of these manipulations on locomotor activity were also assessed in a novel context. Rats in experiment 2 received vehicle or BM into the AI after a 15-min reexposure to the cocaine-paired context, intended to reactivate context-response-cocaine memories and initiate their reconsolidation. The effects of these manipulations on drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior were assessed 72 h later. BM-induced pharmacological inactivation of the AI, but not the SSJ, attenuated drug context-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior without altering locomotor activity. Conversely, AI inactivation after memory reactivation failed to impair subsequent drug-seeking behavior and thus cocaine memory reconsolidation. These findings suggest that the AI is a critical element of the neural circuitry that mediates contextual control over cocaine-seeking behavior.

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First, significance and advantages of sintered materials consisting of two layers are pointed out. By means of the two layer powder pressing technique metal powders are formed resulting in compacts with high accuracy of shape and mass. Attributes of basic powders, different filling methods and pressing techniques are discussed. The described technique is supposed to find further applications in the field of two layer compacts in the near future

The purpose of this study was to (1) evaluate the mechanical efficiency (ME) of two commercially available lever-propulsion mechanisms for wheelchairs and (2) compare the ME of lever propulsion with hand rim propulsion within the same wheelchair. Of the two mechanisms, one contained a torsion spring while the other used a roller clutch design. We hypothesized that the torsion spring mechanism would increase the ME of propulsion due to a passive recovery stroke enabled by the mechanism. Ten nondisabled male participants with no prior manual wheeling experience performed submaximal exercise tests using both lever-propulsion mechanisms and hand rim propulsion on two different wheelchairs. Cardiopulmonary parameters including oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), and energy expenditure (En) were determined. Total external power (Pext) was measured using a drag test protocol. ME was determined by the ratio of Pext to En. Results indicated no significant effect of lever-propulsion mechanism for all physiological measures tested. This suggests that the torsion spring did not result in a physiological benefit compared with the roller clutch mechanism. However, both lever-propulsion mechanisms showed decreased VO2 and HR and increased ME (as a function of slope) compared with hand rim propulsion (p propulsion mechanisms tested are more mechanically efficient than conventional hand rim propulsion, especially when slopes are encountered.

The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a widely accepted rodent model of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and methylphenidate (MP) is a central nervous systemstimulant that has been shown to have a dose-related positive effect on attention task performance in humans with ADHD. The current study was undertaken to compare SHR to its typical control strain, Wistar-Kyoto(WKY) rats, on the performance of a Visual Stimulus Position Discrimination Task (VSPDT) as well as of the responsiveness of the two rat strains to MP treatment. The rats were initially trained on the VSPDT, in which a light cue was presented randomly at three different cue-light intervals (1 s, 300 ms and 100 ms) over one of two levers, and presses on the lever corresponding to the light cue were reinforced with a food pellet. Once rats reached stable performance, the treatment phase of the study began, during which they received daily intraperitoneal (IP) injections of saline, 2 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg, and 10 mg/kg of MP in a randomized order immediately prior to being tested on the VSPDT. Baseline performance accuracy on the VSPDT did not differ between the groups. Furthermore, a striking strain dissociation was evident in the response of the two strains to treatment; VSPDT performance was substantially disrupted by the 5 and 10 mg/kg dose in the WKY rats but only mildly in the SHR rats. Response omissions were also increased only in WKY rats. Finally, both strains had increased locomotor activity in the operant chamber following MP treatment. These findings point to an important difference in response tendency toMP in the two strains that supports a view that a critical difference between these strains may suggest neurochemical and neuroadaptive differences associated with the behavioral impairments of ADHD.

An equivalent circuit model for the design and analysis of two-section gain lever quantum dot (QD) laser is presented. This model is based on the three level rate equations with two independent carrier populations and a single longitudinal optical mode. By using the presented model, the effect of gain lever on QD laser performances is investigated. The results of simulation show that the main characteristics of laser such as threshold current, transient response, output power and modulation response are affected by differential gain ratios between the two-sections

Caloric diet, such as fat and sugar intake, has rewarding effects, and has been indicated to affect the responses to addictive substances in animal experiments. However, the possible association between sucrose reward and the motivation for addictive drugs remains to be elucidated. Thus, we carried out behavioral tests after sucrose self-administration training to determine the effects of sucrose experience on rats' motivation for cocaine, locomotor sensitivity to cocaine, basal locomotor activity, anxiety level, and associative learning ability. The sucrose-experienced (sucrose) group exhibited higher leverpress, cocaine infusion and break point, as well as upshift of cocaine dose-response curve in cocaine self-administration test, as compared with the control (chow) group. Additionally, despite similar locomotor activity in open field test and comparable score in cocaine-induced conditioned place preference, the sucrose group showed higher cocaine-induced locomotor sensitivity as compared with the chow group. The anxiety level and the performance in vocal-cue induced fear memory were similar between these two groups in elevated plus maze and fear conditioning tests, respectively. Taken together, our work indicates that sucrose experience promotes the rats' motivation for cocaine.

We developed a behavioral task in rats to assess the influence of risk of punishment on decision making. Male Long-Evans rats were given choices between pressing a lever to obtain a small, 'safe' food reward and a large food reward associated with risk of punishment (footshock). Each test session consisted of 5 blocks of 10 choice trials, with punishment risk increasing with each consecutive block (0, 25, 50, 75, 100%). Preference for the large, 'risky' reward declined with both increased probability and increased magnitude of punishment, and reward choice was not affected by the level of satiation or the order of risk presentation. Performance in this risky decision-making task was correlated with the degree to which the rats discounted the value of probabilistic rewards, but not delayed rewards. Finally, the acute effects of different doses of amphetamine and cocaine on risky decision making were assessed. Systemic amphetamine administration caused a dose-dependent decrease in choice of the large risky reward (ie, it made rats more risk averse). Cocaine did not cause a shift in reward choice, but instead impaired the rats' sensitivity to changes in punishment risk. These results should prove useful for investigating neuropsychiatric disorders in which risk taking is a prominent feature, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and addiction.

During a Shuttle flight in the early part of 1999, one of the crewmembers was unable to operate the backrest lever for the light-weight seat in microgravity. It is essential that the crewmembers are able to adjust this back-rest lever, which is titled forward 2 degrees from vertical during launch and then moved backwards to 10 degrees aft of vertical upon reaching orbit. This adjustment is needed to cushion the crewmembers during an inadvertent crash landing situation. The original Shuttle seats, which had seat controls located on the front left and right sides of the seat, were replaced recently with the new light-weight seats. The controls for these new, seats were moved to the night side with one control at the front and the other at the back. While it was uncertain whether the problem encountered was unique to that crewmember or not it was clear to the personnel responsible for maintaining the Shuttle seats that not knowing the cause of the problem posed a safety concern for NASA. Hence the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) of the Johnson Space Center was requested to perform an evaluation of the seat controls and provide NASA with appropriate recommendations on whether the seat lever positions and operations should be modified. The ABF designed an experiment to investigate the amount of pull force exerted by subjects, wearing an unpressurized or pressurized crew launch escape suit, when controls were placed in the front and back (on the right side) of the light-weight seat. Single-axis load cells were attached to the seat levers, which measured the maximum static pull forces that were exerted by the subjects. Twelve subjects, six male and six female, participated in this study. Each subject was asked to perform the pull test at least three times for each combination of lever position and suit pressure conditions. The results from this study showed that as a whole (or in general), the subjects were able to pull on the lever at the back position with

Full Text Available In municipal solid waste, aluminum is the main nonferrous metal, approximately 80- 85% of the total nonferrous metals. The income per ton gained from aluminum recuperation is 20 times higher than from glass, steel boxes or paper recuperation. The object of this paper is the design of a 300 kN press for aluminum box bundling.

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For rats that bar pressed for intracranial electrical stimulation in a 2-lever matching paradigm with concurrent variable interval schedules of reward, the authors found that the time allocation ratio is based on a multiplicative combination of the ratio of subjective reward magnitudes and the ratio of the rates of reward. Multiplicative combining was observed in a range covering approximately 2 orders of magnitude in the ratio of the rates of reward from about 1:10 to 10:1) and an order of magnitude change in the size of rewards. After determining the relation between the pulse frequency of stimulation and subjective reward magnitude, the authors were able to predict from knowledge of the subjective magnitudes of the rewards and the obtained relative rates of reward the subject's time allocation ratio over a range in which it varied by more than 3 orders of magnitude.

Previous research has found that rats behaviorally screened for high (vs. low) wheel running were more vulnerable to cocaine abuse. To assess the extent to which a genetic component is involved in this drug-abuse vulnerability, rats selectively bred for high or low voluntary running (HVR or LVR, respectively) were examined for differences in cocaine seeking in the present study. Female rats were trained to leverpress for food and then were assessed for differences in acquisition of cocaine (0.4mg/kg; i.v.) self-administration across 10 sessions. Once acquired, rats self-administered cocaine for a 14-day maintenance phase, followed by a 14-day extinction phase when cocaine was no longer available. Subsequently, reinstatement of cocaine seeking was examined with priming injections of cocaine (5, 10 & 15mg/kg), caffeine (30mg/kg), yohimbine (2.5mg/kg) and cocaine-paired cues. A greater percentage of LVR rats met the acquisition criteria for cocaine self-administration and in fewer sessions than HVR rats. No differences in responding for cocaine were observed between phenotypes during maintenance. However, during extinction LVR rats initially responded at higher rates and persisted in cocaine seeking for a greater number of sessions. No phenotype differences were observed following drug and cue-primed reinstatement of cocaine seeking. In general, LVR rats were more sensitive to the reinforcing effects of cocaine than HVR rats during periods of transition into and out of cocaine self-administration. Thus, LVR rats sometimes showed a greater vulnerability cocaine seeking than HVR rats. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Reinforcement value enhancement by nicotine of non-nicotine rewards is believed to partially motivate smoking behavior. Recently, we showed that the value-enhancing effects of nicotine are well characterized by reinforcer demand models and that the value-enhancing effects of the smoking-cessation aid bupropion (Zyban) are distinct from those of nicotine and differ between the sexes. The present study evaluated potential sex differences in the enhancement effects of nicotine and varenicline (Chantix) using a reinforcer demand methodology. The role of α4β2* and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the enhancing effects of nicotine and varenicline is also evaluated. Male and female rats (n=12/sex) were trained to leverpress maintained by sensory reinforcement by visual stimulus (VS) presentations. Changes in the VS value following nicotine and varenicline administration were assessed using an established reinforcer demand approach. Subsequently, the effects of antagonism of α4β2* and α7 nAChRs on varenicline and nicotine-induced enhancement active lever-pressing were assessed using a progressive ratio schedule. Nicotine and varenicline enhanced VS demand equivalently between the sexes as evaluated by reinforcer demand. However, α4β2* receptor antagonism attenuated value enhancement by nicotine and varenicline in females, but only of nicotine in males.

Both control and creativity are important drivers of organizational success (Gilson, Mathieu, Shally, and Ruddy 2005; Hirst, Van Knippenberg, Chen, and Sacramento 2011). However, they are often regarded as conflicting. We use the Levers of Control (LoC) framework to examine the relationships between

This paper makes persuasive demonstrations on some problems about the human ear sound transmission principle in existing physiological textbooks and reference books, and puts forward the authors' view to make up for its literature. Exerting the knowledge of lever in physics and the acoustics theory, we come up with an equivalent simplified model of manubrium mallei which is to meet the requirements as the long arm of the lever. We also set up an equivalent simplified model of ossicular chain--a combination of levers of ossicular chain. We disassemble the model into two simple levers, and make full analysis and demonstration on them. Through the calculation and comparison of displacement amplitudes in both external auditory canal air and internal ear lymph, we may draw a conclusion that the key reason, which the sound displacement amplitude is to be decreased to adapt to the endurance limit of the basement membrane, is that the density and sound speed in lymph is much higher than those in the air.

Both control and creativity are important drivers of organizational success (Gilson, Mathieu, Shally, and Ruddy 2005; Hirst, Van Knippenberg, Chen, and Sacramento 2011). However, they are often regarded as conflicting. We use the Levers of Control (LoC) framework to examine the relationships between

The introduction of market forces in the Dutch health care system is partially based on assumptions regarding patients' behavior. They are expected to actively choose their care providers. Their choices may work as a lever for change. When asked, most patients say that they find it very important to

Full Text Available Two parallel and interacting processes are said to underlie animal behavior, whereby learning and performance of a behavior is at first via conscious and deliberate (goal-directed processes, but after initial acquisition, the behavior can become automatic and stimulus-elicited (habitual. With respect to instrumental behaviors, animal learning studies suggest that the duration of training and the action-outcome contingency are two factors involved in the emergence of habitual seeking of "natural" reinforcers (e.g., sweet solutions, food or sucrose pellets. To rigorously test whether behaviors reinforced by abused substances such as ethanol, in particular, similarly become habitual was the primary aim of this study.Male Long Evans rats underwent extended or limited operant leverpress training with 10% sucrose/10% ethanol (10S10E reinforcement (variable interval (VI or (VR ratio schedule of reinforcement, or with 10% sucrose (10S reinforcement (VI schedule only. Once training and pretesting were complete, the impact of outcome devaluation on operant behavior was evaluated after lithium chloride injections were paired with the reinforcer, or unpaired 24 hours later. After limited, but not extended instrumental training, leverpressing by groups trained under VR with 10S10E and under VI with 10S was sensitive to outcome devaluation. In contrast, responding by both the extended and limited training 10S10E VI groups was not sensitive to ethanol devaluation during the test for habitual behavior.Operant behavior by rats trained to self-administer an ethanol-sucrose solution showed variable sensitivity to a change in the value of ethanol, with relative insensitivity developing sooner in animals that received time-variable ethanol reinforcement during training sessions. One important implication, with respect to substance abuse in humans, is that initial learning about the relationship between instrumental actions and the opportunity to consume ethanol

Full Text Available This article intends to rectify three popular beliefs related to press freedom: (1 that the idea of a free marketplace of ideas with a self-righting truth belongs to original liberalism, (2 that UNESCO’s primary mission is to promote freedom of information, and (3 that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides legal safeguards for the media. These beliefs are shown, on the basis of the legacy of liberalism and documents of the international community, to be misleading myths. Instead of accurate readings of the idea of freedom, they serve as ideological positions which are harmful to democracy. The Millennium Declaration provides further proof that the international community has a much more balanced view of freedom of information than that typically held by media professionals. Therefore it is important to liberate the concept of press freedom from its ideological baggage.

An experimental technique is described to study hot pressing of ceramics under conditions of controlled temperature and pressure during both the heating and final sintering stages. This method gives a better control of the final microstructure of the material. Transformation mechanisms can be studied during initial heating stage (impurity degasing, reaction, phase transformation, mechanical behavior of intergranular phase...) using computer control and graphical data representations. Some examples will be given for different systems studied in our laboratory: B (α, β, amorphous), B 12 O 2 (reaction of B + B 2 O 3 ), Si 3 N 4 ( + additives), TiN, Al 2 O 3 + AlON,ZrC

Full Text Available Depression has been associated with drug consumption, including heavy or problematic cannabis use. According to an animal model of depression and substance use disorder comorbidity, we combined the olfactory bulbectomy model of depression with intravenous drug self-administration procedure to verify whether depressive-like rats displayed higher voluntary intake of the CB1 receptor agonist WIN55,212-2 (WIN, 12.5 µg/kg/infusion. To this aim, olfactory-bulbectomized (OBX and sham-operated (SHAM Lister Hooded rats were allowed to self-administer WIN by lever-pressing under a continuous (FR-1 schedule of reinforcement in 2h daily sessions. Data showed that both OBX and SHAM rats developed stable WIN intake; yet, responses in OBX were constantly higher than in SHAM rats soon after the first week of training. In addition, OBX rats took significantly longer to extinguish the drug-seeking behaviour after vehicle substitution. Acute pre-treatment with serotonin 5HT1B receptor agonist, CGS-12066B (2.5-10 mg/kg, did not significantly modify WIN intake in OBX and SHAM Lister Hooded rats. Furthermore, acute pre-treatment with CGS-12066B (10 and 15 mg/kg did not alter responses in parallel groups of OBX and SHAM Sprague Dawley rats self-administering methamphetamine under higher (FR-2 reinforcement schedule with nose-poking as operandum. Finally, dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens of OBX rats did not increase in response to a WIN challenge, as in SHAM rats, indicating a dopaminergic dysfunction in bulbectomized rats. Altogether, our findings suggest that a depressive state may alter cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonist-induced brain reward function and that a dopaminergic rather than a 5-HT1B mechanism is likely to underlie enhanced WIN self-administration in OBX rats.

A method using atomic force microscope (AFM) optical levers and a reference nanopositioning stage has been developed to characterize piezoscanner hysteresis and creep. The piezoscanner is fixed on a closed-loop nanopositioning stage, both of which have the same arrangement on each axis of the three spatial directions inside the AFM-based nanomanipulation system. In order to achieve characterization, the optical lever is used as a displacement sensor to measure the relative movement between the nanopositioning stage and the piezoscanner by lateral tracking a well-defined slope with the tapping mode of the AFM cantilever. This setup can be used to estimate a piezoscanner's voltage input with a reference displacement from the nanopositioning stage. The hysteresis and creep were accurately calibrated by the method presented, which use the current setup of the AFM-based nanomanipulation system without any modification or additional devices.

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Full Text Available An important unresolved problem associated with actomyosin motors is the role of Brownian motion in the process of force generation. On the basis of structural observations of myosins and actins, the widely held lever-arm hypothesis has been proposed, in which proteins are assumed to show sequential structural changes among observed and hypothesized structures to exert mechanical force. An alternative hypothesis, the Brownian motion hypothesis, has been supported by single-molecule experiments and emphasizes more on the roles of fluctuating protein movement. In this study, we address the long-standing controversy between the lever-arm hypothesis and the Brownian motion hypothesis through in silico observations of an actomyosin system. We study a system composed of myosin II and actin filament by calculating free-energy landscapes of actin-myosin interactions using the molecular dynamics method and by simulating transitions among dynamically changing free-energy landscapes using the Monte Carlo method. The results obtained by this combined multi-scale calculation show that myosin with inorganic phosphate (Pi and ADP weakly binds to actin and that after releasing Pi and ADP, myosin moves along the actin filament toward the strong-binding site by exhibiting the biased Brownian motion, a behavior consistent with the observed single-molecular behavior of myosin. Conformational flexibility of loops at the actin-interface of myosin and the N-terminus of actin subunit is necessary for the distinct bias in the Brownian motion. Both the 5.5-11 nm displacement due to the biased Brownian motion and the 3-5 nm displacement due to lever-arm swing contribute to the net displacement of myosin. The calculated results further suggest that the recovery stroke of the lever arm plays an important role in enhancing the displacement of myosin through multiple cycles of ATP hydrolysis, suggesting a unified movement mechanism for various members of the myosin family.

An important unresolved problem associated with actomyosin motors is the role of Brownian motion in the process of force generation. On the basis of structural observations of myosins and actins, the widely held lever-arm hypothesis has been proposed, in which proteins are assumed to show sequential structural changes among observed and hypothesized structures to exert mechanical force. An alternative hypothesis, the Brownian motion hypothesis, has been supported by single-molecule experiments and emphasizes more on the roles of fluctuating protein movement. In this study, we address the long-standing controversy between the lever-arm hypothesis and the Brownian motion hypothesis through in silico observations of an actomyosin system. We study a system composed of myosin II and actin filament by calculating free-energy landscapes of actin-myosin interactions using the molecular dynamics method and by simulating transitions among dynamically changing free-energy landscapes using the Monte Carlo method. The results obtained by this combined multi-scale calculation show that myosin with inorganic phosphate (Pi) and ADP weakly binds to actin and that after releasing Pi and ADP, myosin moves along the actin filament toward the strong-binding site by exhibiting the biased Brownian motion, a behavior consistent with the observed single-molecular behavior of myosin. Conformational flexibility of loops at the actin-interface of myosin and the N-terminus of actin subunit is necessary for the distinct bias in the Brownian motion. Both the 5.5-11 nm displacement due to the biased Brownian motion and the 3-5 nm displacement due to lever-arm swing contribute to the net displacement of myosin. The calculated results further suggest that the recovery stroke of the lever arm plays an important role in enhancing the displacement of myosin through multiple cycles of ATP hydrolysis, suggesting a unified movement mechanism for various members of the myosin family.

This paper presents theoretical and experimental results on the investigation of the dynamics of a nonlinear electromechanical system made of a lever arm actuated by a DC motor and controlled through a repulsive magnetic force. We use the method of harmonic balance to derive oscillatory solutions. Theoretical tools such as, bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents, phase portraits, are used to unveil the rich nonlinear behavior of the system including chaos and hysteresis. The experimental results are in close accordance with the theoretical predictions.

A systematic understanding of the press requires an understanding of the social and political structures within which the press operates. This book discusses four theories that have determined the kind of press the Western world has had: authoritarian, libertarian, socially responsible, and Soviet communist. Each chapter discusses press…

Binge drinking and the onset of alcohol use disorders usually peak during the transition between late adolescence and early adulthood, and early adolescent onset of alcohol consumption has been demonstrated to increase the risk for alcohol dependence in adulthood. In the present study we describe an animal model of early adolescent alcohol consumption where animals drink unsweetened and unflavored ethanol in high concentrations (20%). Using this model we investigated the influence of drinking on alcohol-related appetitive behavior and alcohol consumption levels in early adulthood. Further, we also sought to investigate whether differences in alcohol-related drinking behaviors were specific to exposure in adolescence versus exposure in adulthood. Male Wistar rats were given a 2-bottle choice between 20% ethanol and water in one group and between two water bottles in another group during their adolescence (Postnatal Day (PD) PD26-59) to model voluntary drinking in adolescent humans. As young adults (PD85), rats were trained in a paradigm that provided free access to 20% alcohol for 25 min after completing up to a fixed ratio (FR) 16-leverpress response. A set of young adult male Wistar rats was exposed to the same paradigm using the same time course beginning at PD92. The results indicate that adolescent exposure to alcohol increased consumption of alcohol in adulthood. Furthermore, when investigating differences between adolescent high and low adolescent drinkers in adulthood, high consumers continued to drink more alcohol, had fewer FR failures, and had faster completion of FR schedules in adulthood whereas the low consumers were no different than controls. Rats exposed to ethanol in young adulthood also increased future intake but there were no differences in any other components of drinking behavior. Both adolescent- and adult-exposed rats did not exhibit an increase in leverpressing during the appetitive challenge session. These data indicate that adolescent

The article surveys the historical and current meaning of "Freedom of the Press" in constitutional and human rights law. Two different conceptions exist, the narrow one defining freedom of the press as the freedom of every one to publish without prior restraint, the broader one defining it as a...... privileged freedom of the organised press to gather and report on information of public interest. These two conceptions have very different answers to the question of whether the press should enjoy some privilege to be exempt from ordinary legislation when such legislation restricts the access of the press to inform...

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Full Text Available The mammalian jaw is often modelled as a third-class lever for the purposes of biomechanical analyses, owing to the position of the resultant muscle force between the jaw joint and the teeth. However, it has been proposed that in some rodents the jaws operate as a second-class lever during distal molar bites, owing to the rostral position of the masticatory musculature. In particular, the infraorbital portion of the zygomatico-mandibularis (IOZM has been suggested to be of major importance in converting the masticatory system from a third-class to a second-class lever. The presence of the IOZM is diagnostic of the hystricomorph rodents, and is particularly well-developed in Pedetes capensis, the South African springhare. In this study, finite element analysis (FEA was used to assess the lever mechanics of the springhare masticatory system, and to determine the function of the IOZM. An FE model of the skull of P. capensis was constructed and loaded with all masticatory muscles, and then solved for biting at each tooth in turn. Further load cases were created in which each masticatory muscle was removed in turn. The analyses showed that the mechanical advantage of the springhare jaws was above one at all molar bites and very close to one during the premolar bite. Removing the IOZM or masseter caused a drop in mechanical advantage at all bites, but affected strain patterns and cranial deformation very little. Removing the ZM had only a small effect on mechanical advantage, but produced a substantial reduction in strain and deformation across the skull. It was concluded that the masticatory system of P. capensis acts as a second class lever during bites along almost the entire cheek tooth row. The IOZM is clearly a major contributor to this effect, but the masseter also has a part to play. The benefit of the IOZM is that it adds force without substantially contributing to strain or deformation of the skull. This may help explain why the

The role of the stimulus-reinforcer contingency in the development and maintenance of lever contact responding was studied in hooded rats. In Experiment I, three groups of experimentally naive rats were trained either on autoshaping, omission training, or a random-control procedure. Subjects trained by the autoshaping procedure responded more consistently than did either random-control or omission-trained subjects. The probability of at least one lever contact per trial was slightly higher in subjects trained by the omission procedure than by the random-control procedure. However, these differences were not maintained during extended training, nor were they evident in total lever-contact frequencies. When omission and random-control subjects were switched to the autoshaping condition, lever contacts increased in all animals, but a pronounced retardation was observed in omission subjects relative to the random-control subjects. In addition, subjects originally exposed to the random-control procedure, and later switched to autoshaping, acquired more rapidly than naive subjects that were exposed only on the autoshaping procedure. In Experiment II, subjects originally trained by an autoshaping procedure were exposed either to an omission, a random-control, or an extinction procedure. No differences were observed among the groups either in the rate at which lever contacts decreased or in the frequency of lever contacts at the end of training. These data implicate prior experience in the interpretation of omission-training effects and suggest limitations in the influence of stimulus-reinforcer relations in autoshaping.

The role of the stimulus-reinforcer contingency in the development and maintenance of lever contact responding was studied in hooded rats. In Experiment I, three groups of experimentally naive rats were trained either on autoshaping, omission training, or a random-control procedure. Subjects trained by the autoshaping procedure responded more consistently than did either random-control or omission-trained subjects. The probability of at least one lever contact per trial was slightly higher in subjects trained by the omission procedure than by the random-control procedure. However, these differences were not maintained during extended training, nor were they evident in total lever-contact frequencies. When omission and random-control subjects were switched to the autoshaping condition, lever contacts increased in all animals, but a pronounced retardation was observed in omission subjects relative to the random-control subjects. In addition, subjects originally exposed to the random-control procedure, and later switched to autoshaping, acquired more rapidly than naive subjects that were exposed only on the autoshaping procedure. In Experiment II, subjects originally trained by an autoshaping procedure were exposed either to an omission, a random-control, or an extinction procedure. No differences were observed among the groups either in the rate at which lever contacts decreased or in the frequency of lever contacts at the end of training. These data implicate prior experience in the interpretation of omission-training effects and suggest limitations in the influence of stimulus-reinforcer relations in autoshaping. PMID:16811960

Full Text Available There is growing evidence that mere exposure to drugs can induce long-term alterations in the neural systems that mediate reward processing, motivation, and behavioral control, potentially causing the pathological pursuit of drugs that characterizes the addicted state. The incentive sensitization theory proposes that drug exposure potentiates the influence of reward-paired cues on behavior. It has also been suggested that drug exposure biases action selection towards the automatic execution of habits and away from more deliberate goal-directed control. The current study investigated whether rats given repeated exposure to peripherally administered cocaine would show alterations in incentive motivation (assayed using the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT paradigm or habit formation (assayed using sensitivity to reward devaluation. After instrumental and Pavlovian training for food pellet rewards, rats were given 6 daily injections of cocaine (15 mg/kg, IP or saline, followed by a 10-d period of rest. Consistent with the incentive sensitization theory, cocaine-treated rats showed stronger cue-evoked leverpressing than saline-treated rats during the PIT test. The same rats were then trained on a new instrumental action with a new food pellet reward before undergoing a reward devaluation testing. Although saline-treated rats exhibited sensitivity to reward devaluation, indicative of goal-directed performance, cocaine-treated rats were insensitive to this treatment, suggesting a reliance on habitual processes. These findings, when taken together, indicate that repeated exposure to cocaine can cause broad alterations in behavioral control, spanning both motivational and action selection processes, and could therefore help explain aberrations of decision-making that underlie drug addiction.

There is growing evidence that mere exposure to drugs can induce long-term alterations in the neural systems that mediate reward processing, motivation, and behavioral control, potentially causing the pathological pursuit of drugs that characterizes the addicted state. The incentive sensitization theory proposes that drug exposure potentiates the influence of reward-paired cues on behavior. It has also been suggested that drug exposure biases action selection towards the automatic execution of habits and away from more deliberate goal-directed control. The current study investigated whether rats given repeated exposure to peripherally administered cocaine would show alterations in incentive motivation (assayed using the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm) or habit formation (assayed using sensitivity to reward devaluation). After instrumental and Pavlovian training for food pellet rewards, rats were given 6 daily injections of cocaine (15 mg/kg, IP) or saline, followed by a 10-d period of rest. Consistent with the incentive sensitization theory, cocaine-treated rats showed stronger cue-evoked leverpressing than saline-treated rats during the PIT test. The same rats were then trained on a new instrumental action with a new food pellet reward before undergoing a reward devaluation testing. Although saline-treated rats exhibited sensitivity to reward devaluation, indicative of goal-directed performance, cocaine-treated rats were insensitive to this treatment, suggesting a reliance on habitual processes. These findings, when taken together, indicate that repeated exposure to cocaine can cause broad alterations in behavioral control, spanning both motivational and action selection processes, and could therefore help explain aberrations of decision-making that underlie drug addiction.

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The intracellular mechanisms underlying memory reconsolidation critically involve cAMP signaling. These events were originally attributed to PKA activation by cAMP, but the identification of Exchange Protein Activated by cAMP (Epac), as a distinct mediator of cAMP signaling, suggests that cAMP-regulated processes that subserve memory reconsolidation are more complex. Here we investigated how activation of Epac with 8-pCPT-cAMP (8-CPT) impacts reconsolidation of a memory that had been associated with cocaine self-administration. Rats were trained to leverpress for cocaine on an FR-1 schedule, in which each cocaine delivery was paired with a tone+light cue. Leverpressing was then extinguished in the absence of cue presentations and cocaine delivery. Following the last day of extinction, rats were put in a novel context, in which the conditioned cue was presented to reactivate the cocaine-associated memory. Immediate bilateral infusions of 8-CPT into the basolateral amygdala (BLA) following reactivation disrupted subsequent cue-induced reinstatement in a dose-dependent manner, and modestly reduced responding for conditioned reinforcement. When 8-CPT infusions were delayed for 3 hours after the cue reactivation session or were given after a cue extinction session, no effect on cue-induced reinstatement was observed. Co-administration of 8-CPT and the PKA activator 6-Bnz-cAMP (10 nmol/side) rescued memory reconsolidation while 6-Bnz alone had no effect, suggesting an antagonizing interaction between the two cAMP signaling substrates. Taken together, these studies suggest that activation of Epac represents a parallel cAMP-dependent pathway that can inhibit reconsolidation of cocaine-cue memories and reduce the ability of the cue to produce reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior.

Full Text Available The intracellular mechanisms underlying memory reconsolidation critically involve cAMP signaling. These events were originally attributed to PKA activation by cAMP, but the identification of Exchange Protein Activated by cAMP (Epac, as a distinct mediator of cAMP signaling, suggests that cAMP-regulated processes that subserve memory reconsolidation are more complex. Here we investigated how activation of Epac with 8-pCPT-cAMP (8-CPT impacts reconsolidation of a memory that had been associated with cocaine self-administration. Rats were trained to leverpress for cocaine on an FR-1 schedule, in which each cocaine delivery was paired with a tone+light cue. Leverpressing was then extinguished in the absence of cue presentations and cocaine delivery. Following the last day of extinction, rats were put in a novel context, in which the conditioned cue was presented to reactivate the cocaine-associated memory. Immediate bilateral infusions of 8-CPT into the basolateral amygdala (BLA following reactivation disrupted subsequent cue-induced reinstatement in a dose-dependent manner, and modestly reduced responding for conditioned reinforcement. When 8-CPT infusions were delayed for 3 hours after the cue reactivation session or were given after a cue extinction session, no effect on cue-induced reinstatement was observed. Co-administration of 8-CPT and the PKA activator 6-Bnz-cAMP (10 nmol/side rescued memory reconsolidation while 6-Bnz alone had no effect, suggesting an antagonizing interaction between the two cAMP signaling substrates. Taken together, these studies suggest that activation of Epac represents a parallel cAMP-dependent pathway that can inhibit reconsolidation of cocaine-cue memories and reduce the ability of the cue to produce reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior.

A novel experimental setup was designed to fabricate tungsten tips for scanning tunneling microscope (STM), based on simple mechanical lever principle. The equipment can quickly separate the tip from electrolyte to avoid the further etching of the fine-shaped tungsten tip. The setup is advantageous for its simplicity over complex electronic control systems. The use result in scanning electron microscope demonstrates that the radius of the tip can reach 50 nm. The tip was applied to scan the surface of highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite, and the results were satisfactory. It is shown that the tip can be used for the scanning of atomically resolved images. (authors)

For the ‘front-line’ purchasing agent, it is obvious that not all categories of products and supplier relationships should be managed in the same way. Rather, in a modern category management approach, firms group similar products into ‘sourcing categories’ forming coherent supply markets (e.g., ‘metal sheets’, ‘leather’, ‘displays’, ‘cables’, etc.). Thus, to achieve cost reduction targets, a tailored mix of tactical sourcing levers for each sourcing category may be required. The fundamental q...

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In the 1920s, just after the War, an idea began taking root in the Old Continent, to build what could be described as the United States of Europe. Thirty years later, in 1951, a new source of energy, coal, paved the way for the economic integration of Europe. It culminated into monetary integration in January 2002. Economic integration makes sense in the context of the relatively small size of some national economies and markets, and the judicious utilization of rare resources and their unequal distribution. In this document, the author elaborated on the principles at play in economic integration and argued that the integration of the national energy markets could be the lever for economic integration through the gradual elimination of the various obstacles to trade. The author first presented a brief historical overview of economic integration from the perspective of global economic relationships, covering the period between the two world wars to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The concept and the forms of economic integration were reviewed. Energy integration as a lever of regional economic integration and as a factor in global economic insertion were discussed. Energy integration is a tool for the improvement of the human condition. 15 refs

Full Text Available One important instrument to be used in the control system design is strategic behaviors that can lead to the expected organization performance. Referring to the extended definition of strategic behavior using stakeholder-based strategic behavior, corporate social performance is kind of strategic behavior to be influenced by using control system. This paper discusses how control system, using Simons‟ levers of control can play important role in increasing the corporate social performance. The interaction between control system, including belief system, boundary system, diagnostic control system, and interactive control system, as well as the corporate financial performance (CFP can affect the corporate social performance (CSP due to fact that increase in CFP resulting from the appropriate use of control system components enables the company has more chance to do the CSP. The levers of control are deemed to form an integral part of employee socialization and support the development of an organization‟s culture, the system of shared beliefs, values, norms, and mores of organizational members which are deemed to be a primary determinant of the direction of employee behavior.

Full Text Available This paper describes the implementation of an e-learning strategy at a single higher education institution in terms of the levers used to promote effective uptake and ensure sustainable embedding. The focus of this work was at the level of the academic school using a range of change practices including the appointment of school-based learning technologists and e-learning champions, supporting schools to write their own strategies, a pedagogical framework of engaging with e-learning, and curriculum development and evaluation of school-supported projects. It is clear that the implementation of the e-learning strategy has led to a large and increasing proportion of our students experiencing blended learning. In addition, there are initial indications that this has enhanced some learning and teaching processes. Where there has been sustainable embedding of effective e-learning, the following levers were identified as particularly important: flexibility in practices that allow schools to contextualise their plans for change, the facilitation of communities of key staff and creating opportunities for staff to voice and challenge their beliefs about e-learning.

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and application of a lever coupling mechanism to improve the shock resistance of a dual-mass silicon micro-gyroscope with drive mode coupled along the driving direction without sacrificing the mechanical sensitivity. Firstly, the mechanical sensitivity and the shock response of the micro-gyroscope are theoretically analyzed. In the mechanical design, a novel lever coupling mechanism is proposed to change the modal order and to improve the frequency separation. The micro-gyroscope with the lever coupling mechanism optimizes the drive mode order, increasing the in-phase mode frequency to be much larger than the anti-phase one. Shock analysis results show that the micro-gyroscope structure with the designed lever coupling mechanism can notably reduce the magnitudes of the shock response and cut down the stress produced in the shock process compared with the traditional elastic coupled one. Simulations reveal that the shock resistance along the drive direction is greatly increased. Consequently, the lever coupling mechanism can change the gyroscope’s modal order and improve the frequency separation by structurally offering a higher stiffness difference ratio. The shock resistance along the driving direction is tremendously enhanced without loss of the mechanical sensitivity.

In pigeons, Pavlovian autoshaped keypecking produced by keylight-food pairings has been eliminated by introducing food during periods between CS presentations (i.e., during the inter-trial intervals). Keypecking eliminated in this manner reappears when the inter-trial USs are discontinued even though the CS is no longer paired with US. The present experiment investigated whether this recovery of responding produced by discontinuing unpaired inter-trial US presentations could be extended to another species, rats, within a Pavlovian sign-tracking paradigm. Rats were initially trained on a procedure where insertion of one retractable lever (CS(+)) was followed, response independently, with food, while insertion of another lever (CS(-)) was not paired with food. Rats quickly came to contact the CS(+) lever at high rates, but contacted the CS(-) lever infrequently. In the next phase, CS(+) was no longer followed by food. Explicitly unpaired food was presented only during the inter-trial intervals when both levers were absent. This treatment essentially eliminated the sign-tracking response. In the final phase, the unpaired inter-trial food presentations were discontinued while both CSs continued to be presented without food. This produced a significant recovery of the sign-tracking elicited by the CS(+) lever, extending the species generality of the Pavlovian resurgence phenomenon that has previously only been reported in pigeons, to rats.

Animal and human studies have shown that sex and hormones are key factors in modulating addiction. Previously, we have demonstrated that self-administration of the cannabinoid CB(1) receptor agonist WIN55,212-2 (WIN; 12.5 microg.kg(-1) per infusion) is dependent on sex, intact female rats being more sensitive than males to the reinforcing properties of cannabinoids, and on the oestrous cycle, ovariectomized (OVX) females being less responsive than intact females. This follow-up study investigated whether sex and ovarian function also affect reinstatement of cannabinoid-seeking in rats after exposure to drug or cue priming. After priming with 0.15 or 0.3 mg.kg(-1) WIN, intact female rats exhibited stronger reinstatement than males and OVX females. Responses of intact female rats were higher than those of male and OVX rats even after priming with a drug-associated visual (Light) or auditory (Tone) cue, or a WIN + Light combination. However, latency to the first response did not differ between intact and OVX female rats, and males showed the longest latency to initiate lever-pressing activity. Our study provides compelling evidence for a pivotal role of sex and the oestrous cycle in modulating cannabinoid-seeking, with ovariectomy diminishing drug and cue-induced reinstatement. However, it is possible that sex differences during self-administration training are responsible for sex differences in reinstatement. Finding that not only drug primings but also acute exposure to drug-associated cues can reinstate responding in rats could have significant implications for the development of pharmacological and behavioural treatments of abstinent female and male marijuana smokers.

Obesity is a significant problem in the United States, with roughly one third of adults having a body mass index (BMI) over thirty. Recent evidence from human studies suggests that pre-existing differences in the function of mesolimbic circuits that mediate motivational processes may promote obesity and hamper weight loss. However, few preclinical studies have examined pre-existing neurobehavioral differences related to the function of mesolimbic systems in models of individual susceptibility to obesity. Here, we used selectively bred obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats to examine 1) the effect of a novel “junk-food” diet on the development of obesity and metabolic dysfunction, 2) over-consumption of “junk-food” in a free access procedure, 3) motivation for food using instrumental procedures, and 4) cocaine-induced locomotor activity as an index of general mesolimbic function. As expected, eating a sugary, fatty, “junk-food” diet exacerbated weight gain and increased fasted insulin levels only in obesity-prone rats. In addition, obesity-prone rats continued to over-consume junk-food during discrete access testing, even when this same food was freely available in the home cage. Furthermore, when asked to press a lever to obtain food in an instrumental task, rates of responding were enhanced in obesity-prone versus obesity-resistant rats. Finally, obesity-prone rats showed a stronger locomotor response to 15 mg/kg cocaine compared to obesity-resistant rats prior to any diet manipulation. This enhanced sensitivity to this dose of cocaine is indicative of basal differences in the function of mesolimbic circuits in obesity-prone rats. We speculate that pre-existing differences in motivational systems may contribute to over-consumption and enhanced motivation in susceptible individuals. PMID:26423787

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Alcohol consumption produces a complex array of effects that can be divided into two types: the explicit pharmacological effects of ethanol (which can be temporally separate from time of intake) and the more temporally "relevant" effects (primarily olfactory and taste) that bridge the time from intake to onset of the pharmacological effects. Intravenous (IV) self-administration of ethanol limits the confounding "non-pharmacological" effects associated with oral consumption, allows for controlled and precise dosing, and bypasses first order absorption kinetics, allowing for more direct and better-controlled assessment of alcohol's effect on the brain. IV ethanol self-administration has been reliably demonstrated in mouse and human experimental models; however, models of IV self-administration have been historically problematic in the rat. An operant multiple-schedule study design was used to elucidate the role of each component of a compound IV-ethanol plus oral-sucrose reinforcer. Male alcohol-preferring P rats had free access to both food and water during all IV self-administration sessions. Animals were trained to press a lever for orally delivered 1% sucrose (1S) on a fixed ratio 4 schedule, and then surgically implanted with an indwelling jugular catheter. Animals were then trained to respond on a multiple FR4-FR4 schedule composed of alternating 2.5-min components across 30-min sessions. For the multiple schedule, two components were used: an oral 1S only and an oral 1S plus IV 20% ethanol (25 mg/kg/injection). Average total ethanol intake was 0.47 ± 0.04 g/kg. We found significantly higher earning of sucrose-only reinforcers and greater sucrose-lever error responding relative to the compound oral-sucrose plus IV-ethanol reinforcer. These response patterns suggest that sucrose, not ethanol, was responsible for driving overall responding. The work with a compound IV ethanol-oral sucrose reinforcer presented here suggests that the existing intravenous ethanol

Full Text Available We aimed to perform a chemical analysis of both Alibernet red wine and an alcohol-free Alibernet red wine extract (AWE and to investigate the effects of AWE on nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species production as well as blood pressure development in normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs. Total antioxidant capacity together with total phenolic and selected mineral content was measured in wine and AWE. Young 6-week-old male WKY and SHR were treated with AWE (24,2 mg/kg/day for 3 weeks. Total NOS and SOD activities, eNOS and SOD1 protein expressions, and superoxide production were determined in the tissues. Both antioxidant capacity and phenolic content were significantly higher in AWE compared to wine. The AWE increased NOS activity in the left ventricle, aorta, and kidney of SHR, while it did not change NOS activity in WKY rats. Similarly, increased SOD activity in the plasma and left ventricle was observed in SHR only. There were no changes in eNOS and SOD1 expressions. In conclusion, phenolics and minerals included in AWE may contribute directly to increased NOS and SOD activities of SHR. Nevertheless, 3 weeks of AWE treatment failed to affect blood pressure of SHR.

The writer, a journalist, summarizes the discussion of the Chilton Seminar, February 1992, and discusses the problems of bridging the incomprehension gap between scientists and lay readers of the press. (Author)

Requirements for some special nuclear engineering ceramic shapes are: big size, impervious, dimensional accuracy and good mechanical and dielectric properties. Limitations of te conventional methods and advantages of te hot pressing techniques for the manufacturing of these shapes are discussed. Hot pressing characteristics of a certain steatite powder are studied. Occurrence of an optimum densification temperature just above the tale decomposition range is found. Experimental data show that the height/diameter ratio of the specimen has no effect on the sintering conditions. Increasing darkness from the graphite mould is detected above the optimum temperature. The hot-pressed steatite is compared with a fired dry-pressed sample of the same composition. (Author) 13 refs

Rats were trained to perform one of three tasks in which responses on a lever delayed the onset of footshock for 20 sec. One task provided a warning tone beginning 15 sec after the last response on the lever and lasting for 5 sec just prior to the presentation of a shock (fixed-interval signalled avoidance), while a second task provided no external cues (unsignalled avoidance). The third task was similar to the fixed-interval signalled avoidance task, except that the warning tone preceding shock began at varying intervals after the last response on the lever (variable-interval signalled avoidance). Animals trained on the signalled avoidance paradigms received fewer shocks than those on the unsignalled avoidance paradigm. After 10 krads of gamma radiation, animals performing on either task with cues were less able to avoid shock, although they recovered somewhat over a 90-min period. The animals not provided cues also experienced more shocks during the first 10 min after irradiation but were relatively less affected in performing the task. Response rates on the bar and the patterns of responding on these tasks were not significantly different after irradiation, except that animals responded after the onset of shock more often after irradiation than before. These results suggest that rats will continue to effectively use task related cues after irradiation, but that the relative degree of behavioral decrement may depend on the initial level of performance or possibly the complexity of the task

Full Text Available Exposure of neonates to oxidative stress may increase the risk of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia in adulthood. However, the effects of moderate oxidative stress on the adult brain are not completely understood. To address this issue, we systemically administrated 2-cyclohexen-1-one (CHX to adult rats to transiently reduce glutathione levels. Repeated administration of CHX did not affect the acquisition or motivation of an appetitive instrumental behavior (leverpressing rewarded by a food outcome under a progressive ratio schedule. In addition, response discrimination and reversal learning were not affected. However, acute CHX administration blunted the sensitivity of the instrumental performance to outcome devaluation, and this effect was prolonged in rats with a history of repeated CHX exposure, representing pro-depression-like phenotypes. On the other hand, repeated CHX administration reduced immobility in forced swimming tests and blunted acute cocaine-induced behaviors, implicating antidepressant-like effects. Multivariate analyses segregated a characteristic group of behavioral variables influenced by repeated CHX administration. Taken together, these findings suggest that repeated administration of CHX to adult rats did not cause a specific mental disorder, but it induced long-term alterations in behavioral and cognitive functions, possibly related to specific neural correlates.

Full Text Available As a kind of unwelcome, unavoidable, and malicious behavior, distributed denial of service (DDoS is an ongoing issue in today’s Internet as well as in some newly conceived future Internet architectures. Recently, a first step was made towards assessing DDoS attacks in Named Data Networking (NDN—one of the promising Internet architectures in the upcoming big data era. Among them, interest flooding attack (IFA becomes one of the main serious problems. Enlightened by the extensive study on the possibility of mitigating DDoS in today’s Internet by employing micropayments, in this paper we address the possibility of introducing economic levers, say, dynamic pricing mechanism, and so forth, for regulating IFA in NDN.

'Is in fuel poverty a person who feels in his particular housing difficulties have the necessary energy supply to the satisfaction of basic needs due to the inadequacy of resources or its habitat conditions'. The rising cost of energy commodities in the late 2000's, added to the poor thermal quality an important part of French homes, has led to the emergence of fuel poverty in the public debate. Legislative recognition of these situations with the law 'Grenelle II' (from which is extracted the definition above) marked a decisive step in the fight against this complex problem. Affecting nearly 5 million households in France, fuel poverty is a major challenge for societies wishing to successfully achieve their energy transition. In this new publication, ENEA reports on the main levers of the fight against fuel poverty, the obstacles encountered and the needs for new solutions

The aim of this project is to reduce energy costs in paper production by optimising the process in the press section of a paper machine. In this press section water is squeezed as it passes through the press nip. In a modern press section the moisture content of the sheet after three or four presses

Press for forming large aluminum parts from plates provides substantial economies. Study assessed advantages and disadvantages of investing in large stretch-forming press, and also developed procurement specification for press.

Oxytocin has been shown to decrease cocaine taking and seeking in male rats, suggesting potential treatment efficacy for drug addiction. In the present study, we extended these findings to the assessment of cocaine seeking and taking in female rats. Further, we made direct comparisons of oxytocin's impact on cocaine induced locomotor activity in both males and females. In females, systemic oxytocin (0.3, 1.0, 3.0 mg/kg) attenuated leverpressing for cocaine during self-administration and oxytocin (1.0 mg/kg) attenuated cue-induced cocaine seeking following extinction. Cocaine increased baseline locomotor activity to a greater degree in females relative to males. Oxytocin (0.1, 0.3, 1.0, and 3.0 mg/kg) reduced cocaine-induced locomotor activity in females, but not significantly in males. These data illustrate sex similarities in oxytocin's attenuation of cocaine seeking, but sex differences in cocaine-induced locomotor effects. While reductions in cocaine seeking cannot be attributed to a reduction in locomotor activity in males, attenuation of locomotor function cannot be entirely ruled out as an explanation for a decrease in cocaine seeking in females suggesting that oxytocin's effect on cocaine seeking may be mediated by different mechanisms in male and females. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved.

This is a Packt Cookbook, which means it contains step-by-step instructions to achieve a particular goal or solve a particular problem. There are plenty of screenshots and explained practical tasks to make comprehension quick and easy. This book is not specifically for developers or programmers; rather it can be used by anyone who wants to get more out of their WordPress blog by following step-by-step instructions. A basic knowledge of PHP/XHTML/CSS/WordPress is desirable but not necessary.

The lever arm of the ground reaction force (GRF) about the talocrural joint axis is a functionally important indicator of the nature of foot loading. Walking initiation experiments (ten subjects; age, 23-29 years) were completed to demonstrate that rotational foot placement is a possible strategy to specify the lever arm. Externally-rotated foot placement resulted in larger lever arms during push-off. A computer simulation of push-off revealed that a decreased lever arm reduces the plantarflexion moment necessary to maintain a constant forward velocity, while increasing the required plantarflexion velocity. Shortening of the foot thus diminishes the muscular force demand but also requires high muscle fiber shortening velocities that may limit the force generating capacity of plantar flexors. Decreased plantar flexion moment and slow walking previously noted in partial-foot amputees may result from shortened lever arms in this manner.

Research highlights: → We succeeded in recording structural changes of hydrated myosin cross-bridges. → We succeeded in position-marking the cross-bridges with site-directed antibodies. → We recorded cross-bridge movement at different regions in individual cross-bridge. → The movement was smallest at the cross-bridge-subfragment two boundary. → The results provide evidence for the cross-bridge lever arm mechanism. -- Abstract: Muscle contraction results from an attachment-detachment cycle between the myosin heads extending from myosin filaments and the sites on actin filaments. The myosin head first attaches to actin together with the products of ATP hydrolysis, performs a power stroke associated with release of hydrolysis products, and detaches from actin upon binding with new ATP. The detached myosin head then hydrolyses ATP, and performs a recovery stroke to restore its initial position. The strokes have been suggested to result from rotation of the lever arm domain around the converter domain, while the catalytic domain remains rigid. To ascertain the validity of the lever arm hypothesis in muscle, we recorded ATP-induced movement at different regions within individual myosin heads in hydrated myosin filaments, using the gas environmental chamber attached to the electron microscope. The myosin head were position-marked with gold particles using three different site-directed antibodies. The amplitude of ATP-induced movement at the actin binding site in the catalytic domain was similar to that at the boundary between the catalytic and converter domains, but was definitely larger than that at the regulatory light chain in the lever arm domain. These results are consistent with the myosin head lever arm mechanism in muscle contraction if some assumptions are made.

Learning is known to be accompanied by induction of c-Fos expression in cortical neurons. However, not all neurons are involved in this process. What the c-Fos expression pattern depends on is still unknown. In the present work we studied whether and to what degree previous animal experience about Task 1 (the first phase of an instrumental learning) influenced neuronal c-Fos expression in the retrosplenial cortex during acquisition of Task 2 (the second phase of an instrumental learning). Animals were progressively shaped across days to bar-press for food at the left side of the experimental chamber (Task 1). This appetitive bar-pressing behavior was shaped by nine stages (“9 stages” group), five stages (“5 stages” group) or one intermediate stage (“1 stage” group). After all animals acquired the first skill and practiced it for five days, the bar and feeder on the left, familiar side of the chamber were inactivated, and the animals were allowed to learn a similar instrumental task at the opposite side of the chamber using another pair of a bar and a feeder (Task 2). The highest number of c-Fos positive neurons was found in the retrosplenial cortex of “1 stage” animals as compared to the other groups. The number of c-Fos positive neurons in “5 stages” group animals was significantly lower than in “1 stage” animals and significantly higher than in “9 stages” animals. The number of c-Fos positive neurons in the cortex of “9 stages” animals was significantly higher than in home caged control animals. At the same time, there were no significant differences between groups in such behavioral variables as the number of entrees into the feeder or bar zones during Task 2 learning. Our results suggest that c-Fos expression in the retrosplenial cortex during Task 2 acquisition was influenced by the previous learning history. PMID:23847484

Abused amphetamines, such as d-amphetamine (AMPH) and methamphetamine (METH), are highly addictive and destructive to health and productive lifestyles. The abuse of these drugs is associated with impulsive behavior, which is likely to contribute to addiction. The amphetamines also differentially damage dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) systems, which regulate impulsive behavior; therefore, exposure to these drugs may differentially alter impulsive behavior to effect the progression of addiction. We examined the impact of neurotoxicity induced by three amphetamines on impulsive action using a stop-signal task in rats. Animals were rewarded with a food pellet after leverpressing (i.e. a go trial), unless an auditory cue was presented and withholding leverpress gained reward (i.e. a stop trial). Animals were trained on the task and then exposed to a neurotoxic regimen of either AMPH, p-chloroamphetamine (PCA), or METH. These regimens preferentially reduced DA transporter levels in striatum, 5-HT transporter levels in prefrontal cortex, or both, respectively. Assessment of performance on the stop-signal task beginning one week after the treatment revealed that AMPH produced a deficit in go-trial performance, whereas PCA did not alter performance on either trial type. In contrast, METH produced a deficit in stop-trial performance (i.e. impulsive action) but not go-trial performance. These findings suggest that the different neurotoxic consequences of substituted amphetamines are associated with different effects on inhibitory control over behavior. Thus, the course of addiction and maladaptive behavior resulting from exposure to these substances is likely to differ. PMID:26846719

This paper presents a method for asynchronous decision making using recorded neural data in a binary decision task. This is a demonstration of a technique for developing motor cortical neural prosthetics that do not rely on external cued timing information. The system presented in this paper uses support vector machines and leaky integrate-and-fire elements to predict directional paddle presses. In addition to the traditional metrics of accuracy, asynchronous systems must also optimize the time needed to make a decision. The system presented is able to predict paddle presses with a median accuracy of 88% and all decisions are made before the time of the actual paddle press. An alternative bit rate measure of performance is defined to show that the system proposed here is able to perform the task with the same efficiency as the rats.

Court cases and legal decisions involving the student press in the late 1960s and early 1970s are brought together in this book in order to show how the law has been applied to school officials and student journalists in high school, college, and the underground. The ten chapters cover the following topics: censorship, libel, obscenity, contempt,…

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and the international press today. The Times gives prominence to the Prime Minister's flying visit to Geneva yesterday, where he signed a research cooperation agreement with CERN, the European nuclear research organisation.

An original hot pressing method which may be applied to ceramics, metals, and refractory powders is described. The products obtained are fine grained polycristalline materials, with homogeneous structure, very high density, unstrained and of very large dimensions (several square meters). This process equally applies to composite materials including powders, fibers, etc.. [fr

Rationale Accurate measurement of the threshold dosage of phenobarbital that can produce drug discrimination (DD) may improve our understanding of the mechanisms and properties of such discrimination. Objectives Compare three methods for determining the threshold dosage for phenobarbital (D) versus no drug (N) DD. Methods Rats learned a D versus N DD in 2-lever operant training chambers. A titration scheme was employed to increase or decrease dosage at the end of each 18-day block of sessions depending on whether the rat had achieved criterion accuracy during the sessions just completed. Three criterion rules were employed, all based on average percent drug lever responses during initial links of the last 6 D and 6 N sessions of a block. The criteria were: D%>66 and N%50 and N%33. Two squads of rats were trained, one immediately after the other. Results All rats discriminated drug versus no drug. In most rats, dosage decreased to low levels and then oscillated near the minimum level required to maintain criterion performance. The lowest discriminated dosage significantly differed under the three criterion rules. The squad that was trained 2nd may have benefited by partially duplicating the lever choices of the previous squad. Conclusions The lowest discriminated dosage is influenced by the criterion of discriminative control that is employed, and is higher than the absolute threshold at which discrimination entirely disappears. Threshold estimations closer to absolute threshold can be obtained when criteria are employed that are permissive, and that allow rats to maintain lever preferences. PMID:19082992

Twenty-first century is a century of technology, a rapid development of scientific studies and technology make them relied heavily on each other. This research investigated about the effect of STEM-based workbook in enhancing students' STEM competencies in terms of knowledge understanding, problem solving skill, innovative abilities, and responsibility. The workbook was tried on 24 students that applied engineering design processes together with mathematics and science knowledge to design and create an egg cracker. The result showed that the implementation of STEM-based workbook on lever system in human body is effective to improve students' STEM competencies, it can be proven by students' result on their knowledge understanding improvement which can be seen from normalized gain () score is 0.41 and categorized as medium improvement, students' problem solving skill is also improving where it obtained a medium improvement with normalized gain as much as 0.45. Innovative abilities also encountered an the improvement, the workbook analysis obtained a higher score which means students can be more innovative after finishing their workbook. Last, students' responsibility is keep improving day by day, students' effort gain the highest score it means that the students become more responsible after implementation of STEM-based workbook. All of the results are supported with the response of students towards STEM-based workbook implementation which showed positive response in all indicators.

Full Text Available Understanding the history of the amateur theater at the end of the XIXth century and the beginning of the XXth is possible, largely, because of the newspapers dedicated to the “theatrical affairs”. Such publications are important for the quantity and the diversity, revealing not only the place occupied by the theater in the capital, but also for the recognition of the press as a means of disclosure of plays, public education and opinion, artist projection, etc, not to mention personal affairs and requests, and the exchange of favors among managers and journalists. Even more, the press production of the dramatic amateurs clubs demonstrate the understanding of its role in the dissemination of ways to act and think beyond the stage and in the everyday life.

Research on incentive contrast highlights that reward value is not absolute but rather is based upon comparisons we make to rewards we have received and expect to receive. Both human and nonhuman studies on incentive contrast show that shifting from a larger more-valued reward to a smaller less-valued reward is associated with long periods of nonresponding—a negative contrast effect. In this investigation, we used two different genetic rat strains, Fischer 344 and Lewis rats that putatively differ in their sensitivity to aversive stimulation, to assess the aversive properties of large-to-small reward shifts (negative incentive shifts). Additionally, we examined the extent to which increasing cost (fixed-ratio requirements) modulates negative contrast effects. In the presence of a cue that signaled the upcoming reward magnitude, leverpressing was reinforced with one of two different magnitudes of food (large or small). This design created two contrast shifts (small-to-large, large-to-small) and two shifts used as control conditions (small-to-small, large-to-large). Results showed a significant interaction between rat strain and cost requirements only during the negative incentive shift with the emotionally reactive Fischer 344 rats exhibiting significantly longer response latencies with increasing cost, highlighting greater negative contrast. These findings are more consistent with emotionality accounts of negative contrast and results of neurophysiological research that suggests shifting from a large to a small reward is aversive. Findings also highlight how subjective reward value and motivation is a product of gene-environment interactions. PMID:27864048

In order to select actions appropriate to current needs, a subject must identify relationships between actions and events. Control over the environment is determined by the degree to which action consequences can be predicted, as described by action-outcome contingencies – i.e. performing an action should affect the probability of the outcome. We evaluated in a first experiment adaptation to contingency changes in rats with neurotoxic lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex. Results indicate that this brain region is not critical to adjust instrumental responding to a negative contingency where the rats must refrain from pressing a lever, as this action prevents reward delivery. By contrast, this brain region is required to reduce responding in a non-contingent situation where the same number of rewards is freely delivered and actions do not affect the outcome any more. In a second experiment, we determined that this effect does not result from a different perception of temporal relationships between actions and outcomes since lesioned rats adapted normally to gradually increasing delays in reward delivery. These data indicate that the medial prefrontal cortex is not directly involved in evaluating the correlation between action-and reward-rates or in the perception of reward delays. The deficit in lesioned rats appears to consist of an abnormal response to the balance between contingent and non-contingent rewards. By highlighting the role of prefrontal regions in adapting to the causal status of actions, these data contribute to our understanding of the neural basis of choice tasks. PMID:22496747

Recent studies have shown that when given a mutually exclusive choice between cocaine and palatable foods most rats prefer the non-drug rewards over cocaine. Here, we used a discrete choice procedure to assess whether palatable food preference generalizes to rats with a history of limited (3 hr/day) or extended (6 or 9 hr/day) access to methamphetamine self-administration. On different daily sessions, we trained rats to lever-press for either methamphetamine (0.1–0.2 mg/kg/infusion) or palatable food (5 pellets per reward delivery) for several weeks; regular food was freely available. We then assessed food-methamphetamine preference either during training, after priming methamphetamine injections (0.5–1.0 mg/kg), following a satiety manipulation (palatable food exposure in the home cage), or after 21 days of withdrawal from methamphetamine. We also assessed progressive ratio responding for palatable food and methamphetamine. We found that independent of the daily drug access conditions and the withdrawal period, the rats strongly preferred the palatable food over methamphetamine, even when they were given free access to the palatable food in the home cage. Intake of methamphetamine and progressive ratio responding for the drug, both of which increased or escalated over time, did not predict preference in the discrete choice test. Results demonstrate that most rats strongly prefer palatable food pellets over intravenous methamphetamine, confirming previous studies using discrete choice procedures with intravenous cocaine. Results also demonstrate that escalation of drug self-administration, a popular model of compulsive drug use, is not associated with a cardinal feature of human addiction of reduced behavioral responding for non-drug rewards. PMID:25582886

The technology has been selected of a circular plate bent into the shape of a trough, for pressing bottoms of pressure vessels from a circular plate of large diameter. The initial sheet is first bent in the middle by heating with the edges remaining straight. These are then welded longitudinally by electroslag welding and the circular shape is flame cut. The result will be a plate with a straight surface in the middle with raised edges which may be pressed into the desired shape. In this manner it is also possible to press pressure vessel bottoms with tube couplings from plates which are thickened in the middle and drilled; additional welding is then eliminated. Deformation from heat treatment may be avoided by the use of a fixture in the shape of a ring with a groove into which is fixed the edge of the bottom. During hardening of the bottom it will be necessary to care for the withdrawal of vapours and gases which would hamper uniform cooling. Bottom hardening with the grill and the cupola downwards has been proven. Deformation which occurs during treatment may to a certain extent be removed by calibration which cannot, however, be made without special fixtures and instruments. (J.B.)

P300 (P3) event-related potentials (ERPs) have been suggested to be an endogenous marker of cognitive function and auditory oddball paradigms are frequently used to evaluate P3 ERPs in clinical settings. Deficits in P3 amplitude and latency reflect some of the neurological dysfunctions related to several psychiatric and neurological diseases, e.g., Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, only a very limited number of rodent studies have addressed the back-translational validity of the P3-like ERPs as suitable markers of cognition. Thus, the potential of rodent P3-like ERPs to predict pro-cognitive effects in humans remains to be fully validated. The current study characterizes P3-like ERPs in the 192-IgG-SAP (SAP) rat model of the cholinergic degeneration associated with AD. Following training in a combined auditory oddball and lever-press setup, rats were subjected to bilateral intracerebroventricular infusion of 1.25 μg SAP or PBS (sham lesion) and recording electrodes were implanted in hippocampal CA1. Relative to sham-lesioned rats, SAP-lesioned rats had significantly reduced amplitude of P3-like ERPs. P3 amplitude was significantly increased in SAP-treated rats following pre-treatment with 1 mg/kg donepezil. Infusion of SAP reduced the hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity by 75%. Behaviorally defined cognitive performance was comparable between treatment groups. The present study suggests that AD-like deficits in P3-like ERPs may be mimicked by the basal forebrain cholinergic degeneration induced by SAP. SAP-lesioned rats may constitute a suitable model to test the efficacy of pro-cognitive substances in an applied experimental setup.

The inability to maintain drug abstinence is often referred to as relapse and consists of a process by which an abstaining individual slips back into old behavioral patterns and substance use. Animal models of relapse have been developed and validated over the last decades, and significantly contributed to shed light on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying vulnerability to relapse. The most common procedure to study drug-seeking and relapse-like behavior in animals is the "reinstatement model." Originally elaborated by Pavlov and Skinner, the concepts of reinforced operant responding and conditioned behavior were applied to addiction research not before 1971 (Stretch et al., Can J Physiol Pharmacol 49:581-589, 1971), and the first report of a reinstatement animal model as it is now used worldwide was published only 10 years later (De Wit and Stewart, Psychopharmacology 75:134-143, 1981). According to the proposed model, opioids are typically self-administered intravenously, as humans do, and although rodents are most often employed in these studies, this model has been used with a variety of species including nonhuman primates, dogs, cats, and pigeons. A variety of operant responses are available, depending on the species studied. For example, a leverpress or a nose poke response typically is used for rodents, whereas a panel press response typically is used for nonhuman primates. Here, we describe a simple and easily reproducible protocol of heroin-seeking reinstatement in rats, which proved useful to study the neurobiological mechanisms underlying relapse to heroin and vulnerability factors enhancing the resumption of heroin-seeking behavior.

Cue exposure therapy, which attempts to limit relapse by reducing reactivity to cocaine-paired cues through repeated exposures, has had limited success. The current experiments examined cocaine cue-induced anxiogenesis and investigated whether a model of cue exposure therapy would reduce reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats with a history of cocaine self-administration. Male rats experienced daily intravenous cocaine self-administration. Rats then experienced exposure to either the self-administration context or the context plus noncontingent presentations of cocaine-paired cues. Immediately following exposure, anxiety-like behavior was measured using elevated plus maze and defensive burying tests. In a second group of rats, self-administration was followed by 7 days of exposure to the context, context + noncontingent cue exposure, lever extinction, or cue + lever extinction. All animals then underwent two contingent cue-induced reinstatement tests separated by 7 days of lever extinction. Exposure to noncontingent cocaine-paired cues in the self-administration context increased anxiety-like behavior on the defensive burying test. Animals that experienced lever + cue extinction displayed the least cocaine seeking on the first reinstatement test, and lever extinction reduced cocaine seeking below context exposure or context + noncontingent cue exposure. All animals had similar levels of cocaine seeking on the second reinstatement test. Noncontingent cue exposure causes anxiety, and noncontingent cue and context exposure are less effective at reducing contingent cue-induced reinstatement than lever or lever + cue extinction. These data indicate that active extinction of the drug-taking response may be critical for reduction of relapse proclivity in former cocaine users.

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the development of the newly-patented structure of a screw briquetting machine for compacting biomass into a solid biofuel. The design of the machine is based on the results of a comprehensive study of the complicated process of biomass compaction. The patented structure meets two main goals: the elimination of axial forces, leading to increased lifetime of the bearings, and the new modular design of a pressing chamber and tools with their geometry based on the application of a mathematical model.

The present study examined whether continued access to methamphetamine or food reinforcement changed economic demand for both. The relationship between demand elasticity and cue-induced reinstatement was also determined. Male Long-Evans ratslever-pressed under increasing fixed-ratio requirements for either food pellets or methamphetamine (20 μg/50 μl infusion). For two groups, demand curves were obtained before and after continued access (12 days, 2-hr sessions) to the reinforcer under a fixed-ratio 3 schedule. A third group was given continued access to methamphetamine between determinations of food demand and a fourth group abstained from methamphetamine between determinations. All groups underwent extinction sessions, followed by a cue-induced reinstatement test. Although food demand was less elastic than methamphetamine demand, continued access to methamphetamine shifted the methamphetamine demand curve upward and the food demand curve downward. In some rats, methamphetamine demand also became less elastic. Continued access to food had no effect on food demand. Reinstatement was higher after continued access to methamphetamine relative to food. For methamphetamine, elasticity and reinstatement measures were correlated. We conclude that continued access to methamphetamine – but not food – alters demand in ways suggestive of methamphetamine accruing reinforcing strength. Demand elasticity and reinstatement measures appear to be related indices of drug-seeking. PMID:21597363

This study examined whether continued access to methamphetamine or food reinforcement changed economic demand for both. The relationship between demand elasticity and cue-induced reinstatement was also determined. Male Long-Evans rats were leverpressed under increasing fixed-ratio requirements for either food pellets or methamphetamine (20 μg/50 μl infusion). For two groups, demand curves were obtained before and after continued access (12 days, 2-h sessions) to the reinforcer under a fixed-ratio 3 schedule. A third group was given continued access to methamphetamine between determinations of food demand and a fourth group abstained from methamphetamine between determinations. All groups underwent extinction sessions, followed by a cue-induced reinstatement test. Although food demand was less elastic than methamphetamine demand, continued access to methamphetamine shifted the methamphetamine demand curve upward and the food demand curve downward. In some rats, methamphetamine demand also became less elastic. Continued access to food had no effect on food demand. Reinstatement was higher after continued access to methamphetamine relative to food. For methamphetamine, elasticity and reinstatement measures were correlated. Continued access to methamphetamine, but not food, alters demand in ways suggestive of methamphetamine accruing reinforcing strength. Demand elasticity thus provides a useful measure of abuse liability that may predict future relapse to renewed drug-seeking and drug use.

Full Text Available In this paper are presented a graphic - analytic method that can be used to estimate the fatigue lifetime duration for an operating mechanism lever pin to a Kaplan turbine. The presented calculus algorithm is adapted from the one used by Fuji Electric to made strength calculus in order to refurbish a Romanian hydropower plant, equipped with a Kaplan turbine. The graphic part includes a 3D fatigue diagram for rotating bending stress designed by Fuji Electric specialists.

Full Text Available IntroductionSimulated-use buildup biofilm (BBF model was used to assess various extraction fluids and friction methods to determine the optimal sample collection method for polytetrafluorethylene channels. In addition, simulated-use testing was performed for the channel and lever cavity of duodenoscopes.Materials and methodsBBF was formed in polytetrafluorethylene channels using Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Sterile reverse osmosis (RO water, and phosphate-buffered saline with and without Tween80 as well as two neutralizing broths (Letheen and Dey–Engley were each assessed with and without friction. Neutralizer was added immediately after sample collection and samples concentrated using centrifugation. Simulated-use testing was done using TJF-Q180V and JF-140F Olympus duodenoscopes.ResultsDespite variability in the bacterial CFU in the BBF model, none of the extraction fluids tested were significantly better than RO. Borescope examination showed far less residual material when friction was part of the extraction protocol. The RO for flush-brush-flush (FBF extraction provided significantly better recovery of E. coli (p = 0.02 from duodenoscope lever cavities compared to the CDC flush method.Discussion and conclusionWe recommend RO with friction for FBF extraction of the channel and lever cavity of duodenoscopes. Neutralizer and sample concentration optimize recovery of viable bacteria on culture.

In inertial navigation system (INS) and global positioning system (GPS) integrated system, GPS antennas are usually not located at the same location as the inertial measurement unit (IMU) of the INS, so the lever arm effect exists, which makes the observation equation highly nonlinear. The INS/GPS integration with constant lever arm effect is studied. The position relation of IMU and GPS’s antenna is represented in the earth centered earth fixed frame, while the velocity relation of these two systems is represented in local horizontal frame. Due to the small integration time interval of INS, i.e. 0.1 s in this work, the nonlinearity in the INS error equation is trivial, so the linear INS error model is constructed and addressed by Kalman filter’s prediction step. On the other hand, the high nonlinearity in the observation equation due to lever arm effect is addressed by unscented Kalman filter’s update step to attain higher accuracy and better applicability. Simulation is designed and the performance of the hybrid filter is validated.

Calibration of the optical lever sensitivities of atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevers is especially important for determining the force in AFM measurements. These sensitivities depend critically on the cantilever mode used and are known to differ for static and dynamic measurements. Here, we calculate the ratio of the dynamic and static sensitivities for several common AFM cantilevers, whose shapes vary considerably, and experimentally verify these results. The dynamic-to-static optical lever sensitivity ratio is found to range from 1.09 to 1.41 for the cantilevers studied - in stark contrast to the constant value of 1.09 used widely in current calibration studies. This analysis shows that accuracy of the thermal noise method for the static spring constant is strongly dependent on cantilever geometry - neglect of these dynamic-to-static factors can induce errors exceeding 100%. We also discuss a simple experimental approach to non-invasively and simultaneously determine the dynamic and static spring constants and optical lever sensitivities of cantilevers of arbitrary shape, which is applicable to all AFM platforms that have the thermal noise method for spring constant calibration.

Lewis (LEW) and Fischer (F344) rat strains differ on a number of physiological characteristics, such as hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, as well as on behavioral tasks, including those that measure impulsivity and drug reward. Since autoshaping, the phenomenon where animals approach and contact reward-paired conditioned stimuli, has been linked to HPA axis functioning, impulsivity and drug taking, the present study compared LEW and F344 rats on the rate of acquisition and performance of the autoshaping response. Rats were trained on an autoshaping procedure where insertions of one retractable lever (CS(+)) were paired response-independently with food, while insertions of another lever (CS(-)) were not paired with food. LEW rats acquired the autoshaping response more rapidly and also performed the autoshaping response at a higher rate than F344 rats. No differences between the strains were observed when rats were trained on a discrimination reversal where the CS(+) and CS(-) levers were reversed or during a negative auto-maintenance phase where CS(+) lever contacts cancelled food delivery. Potential physiological mechanisms that might mediate the present results, including strain differences in HPA axis and monoamine neurotransmitter activity, are discussed. The finding that LEW (as compared to F344 rats) more readily acquire autoshaping and perform more responses is consistent with research indicating that LEW rats behave more impulsively and more readily self-administer drugs of abuse.

Full Text Available Global computerization determined the dominant position of the analytical methods for the study of mechanisms. As a result, kinetostatics analysis of mechanisms using software packages is an important part of scientific and practical activities of engineers and designers. Therefore, software implementation of mathematical models kinetostatical calculating mechanisms is of practical interest. The mathematical model obtained in [1]. In the language of Turbo Pascal developed a computer procedure that calculates the forces in kinematic pairs in groups Assur (GA and a balancing force at the primary level. Before use appropriate computational procedures it is necessary to know all external forces and moments acting on the GA and to determine the inertial forces and moments of inertia forces. The process of calculations and constructions of the provisions of the mechanism can be summarized as follows. Organized cycle in which to calculate the position of an initial link of the mechanism. Calculate the position of the remaining links of the mechanism by referring to relevant procedures module DIADA in GA [2,3]. Using the graphics mode of the computer displaying on the display the position of the mechanism. The computed inertial forces and moments of inertia forces. Turning to the corresponding procedures of the module, calculated all the forces in kinematic pairs and the balancing force at the primary level. In each kinematic pair build forces and their direction with the help of simple graphical procedures. The magnitude of these forces and their direction are displayed in a special window with text mode. This work contains listings of the test programs MyTеst, is an example of using computing capabilities of the developed module. As a check on the calculation procedures of module in the program is reproduced an example of calculating the balancing forces according to the method of Zhukovsky (Zhukovsky lever.

Full Text Available Evidence is required as to when and where to focus resources to achieve the greatest gains for children's language development. Key to these decisions is the understanding of individual differences in children's language trajectories and the predictors of those differences. To determine optimal timing we must understand if and when children's relative language abilities become fixed. To determine where to focus effort we must identify mutable factors, that is those with the potential to be changed through interventions, which are associated with significant differences in children's language scores and rate of progress.Uniquely this study examined individual differences in language growth trajectories in a population sample of children between 4 and 7 years using the multilevel model for change. The influence of predictors, grouped with respect to their mutability and their proximity to the child (least-mutable, mutable-distal, mutable-proximal, were estimated.A significant degree of variability in rate of progress between 4 and 7 years was evident, much of which was systematically associated with mutable-proximal factors, that is, those factors with evidence that they are modifiable through interventions with the child or family, such as shared book reading, TV viewing and number of books in the home. Mutable-distal factors, such as family income, family literacy and neighbourhood disadvantage, hypothesised to be modifiable through social policy, were important predictors of language abilities at 4 years.Potential levers for language interventions lie in the child's home learning environment from birth to age 4. However, the role of a family's material and cultural capital must not be ignored, nor should the potential for growth into the school years. Early Years services should acknowledge the effects of multiple, cascading and cumulative risks and seek to promote child language development through the aggregation of marginal gains in the pre

Full Text Available Calculation of kinematic mechanisms is very time-consuming work. Due to the content of a large number of similar operations can be automated using computers. Forthis purpose, it is necessary to implement a software implementation ofthe mathematical model of calculation of kinematic mechanisms of the second class. In the article on Turbo Pascal presents the text module to library procedures all kinematic studies of planar lever mechanisms of the second class. The determination of the kinematic characteristics of the mechanism and the construction of its provisions, plans, plans, speeds and accelerations carried out on the example of the six-link mechanism. The beginning of the motionless coordinate system coincides with the axis of rotation of the crank AB. It is assumed that the known length of all links, the positions of all additional points of links and the coordinates of all kinematic pairs rack mechanism, i.e. this stage of work to determine the kinematics of the mechanism must be preceded by a stage of synthesis of mechanism (determining missing dimensions of links. Denote the coordinates of point C and considering that the analogues of velocities and accelerations of this point is 0 (stationary point, appeal to the procedure that computes the kinematics group the Assyrians (GA third. Specify kinematic parameters of point D, taking the beginning of the guide slide E at point C, the angle, the analogue of the angular velocity and the analogue of the angular acceleration of the guide is zero, knowing the length of the connecting rod DE and the length of link 5, refer to the procedure for the GA of the second kind. The use of library routines module of the kinematic calculation, makes it relatively simple to organize a simulation of the mechanism motion, to calculate the projection analogues of velocities and accelerations of all links of the mechanism, to build plans of the velocities and accelerations at each position of the mechanism.

The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis was to develop a WordPress mobile-first style website for the customer, Pohjois-Suomen Pesis. The main purpose of the development was to learn website designing principles and create a responsive website for the mobile and desktop platforms. The development process began defining the requirements of the website and creating the requirements document. Then next step was learning how to design a website layout and to choose the colour scheme for the site. T...

The ultimate guide to WordPress, from the world's most popular resource for web designers and developers As one of the hottest tools on the web today for creating a blog, WordPress has evolved to be much more that just a blogging platform and has been pushed beyond its original purpose. With this new edition of a perennially popular WordPress resource, Smashing Magazine offers you the information you need so you can maximize the potential and power of WordPress. WordPress expert Thord Daniel Hedengren takes you beyond the basic blog to show you how to leverage the capabilities of WordPress to

Get your blog up and running with the latest version of WordPress WordPress is one of the most popular, easy-to-use blogging platforms and allows you to create a dynamic and engaging blog, even if you have no programming skills or experience. Ideal for the visual learner, Teach Yourself VISUALLY WordPress, Second Edition introduces you to the exciting possibilities of the newest version of WordPress and helps you get started, step by step, with creating and setting up a WordPress site. Author and experienced WordPress user Janet Majure shares advice, insight, and best practices for taking full

Full Text Available In order to predict pressing quality of precision press-fit assembly, press-fit curves and maximum press-mounting force of press-fit assemblies were investigated by finite element analysis (FEA. The analysis was based on a 3D Solidworks model using the real dimensions of the microparts and the subsequent FEA model that was built using ANSYS Workbench. The press-fit process could thus be simulated on the basis of static structure analysis. To verify the FEA results, experiments were carried out using a press-mounting apparatus. The results show that the press-fit curves obtained by FEA agree closely with the curves obtained using the experimental method. In addition, the maximum press-mounting force calculated by FEA agrees with that obtained by the experimental method, with the maximum deviation being 4.6%, a value that can be tolerated. The comparison shows that the press-fit curve and max press-mounting force calculated by FEA can be used for predicting the pressing quality during precision press-fit assembly.

Two types of mechanical presses are being tested from the remote operation and remote maintenance aspects. Results will be used to recommend the type of press and design considerations required for operation in a remotely operated and maintained process line

Due to the lever-arm effect and flexural deformation in the practical application of transfer alignment (TA), the TA performance is decreased. The existing polar TA algorithm only compensates a fixed lever-arm without considering the dynamic lever-arm caused by flexural deformation; traditional non-polar TA algorithms also have some limitations. Thus, the performance of existing compensation algorithms is unsatisfactory. In this paper, a modified compensation algorithm of the lever-arm effect and flexural deformation is proposed to promote the accuracy and speed of the polar TA. On the basis of a dynamic lever-arm model and a noise compensation method for flexural deformation, polar TA equations are derived in grid frames. Based on the velocity-plus-attitude matching method, the filter models of polar TA are designed. An adaptive Kalman filter (AKF) is improved to promote the robustness and accuracy of the system, and then applied to the estimation of the misalignment angles. Simulation and experiment results have demonstrated that the modified compensation algorithm based on the improved AKF for polar TA can effectively compensate the lever-arm effect and flexural deformation, and then improve the accuracy and speed of TA in the polar region. (paper)

This patent describes a press for contaminated wastes drums pressing. The press is made of a structure comprising a base and an upper stringer bind to the base by vertical bearers, a compression system comprising a main cylinder and a ram, connected to the upper stringer

All Academic Press journals are available online to CERN users for a test period which will last until the end of July. The service 'IDEALIBRARY' includes 174 scientific journals that cover several domains, ranging from engineering to mathematics, computing and physics. Titles covered are among others 'Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables', 'Nuclear Data Sheets', 'Annals of Physics', 'Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing'. Reference citations present in each article are linked to the corresponding full text, when the latter is published by a member of the CrossRef consortium (members are: Elsevier, APS, AIP and others). Therefore, the navigation between articles and references is uninterrupted. A search engine allows queries by author, title and publication year. See http://www.idealibrary.com. At present the Library is evaluating a site license offer proposed by the publisher.

Full Text Available As a model of anxiety disorder vulnerability, male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY rats acquire lever-press avoidance behavior more readily than outbred Sprague Dawley rats, and their acquisition is enhanced by the presence of a discrete signal presented during the inter-trial intervals (ITIs, suggesting it is perceived as a safety signal. A series of experiments were conducted to determine if this is the case. Additional experiments investigated if the avoidance facilitation relies upon processing through medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC. The results suggest that the ITI-signal facilitates acquisition during the early stages of the avoidance acquisition process, when the rats are initially acquiring escape behavior and then transitioning to avoidance behavior. Post-avoidance introduction of the visual ITI-signal into other associative learning tasks failed to confirm that the visual stimulus had acquired the properties of a conditioned inhibitor. Shortening the signal from the entirety of the 3 min ITI to only the first 5 s of the 3 min ITI slowed acquisition during the first 4 sessions, suggesting the flashing light is not functioning as a feedback signal. The prelimbic (PL cortex showed greater activation during the period of training when the transition from escape responding to avoidance responding occurs. Only combined PL+infralimbic cortex lesions modestly slowed avoidance acquisition, but PL cortex lesions slowed avoidance response latencies. Thus, the flashing light ITI-signal is not likely perceived as a safety signal nor is it serving as a feedback signal. The functional role of the PL cortex appears to be to increase the drive towards responding to the threat of the warning signal. Hence, avoidance susceptibility displayed by male WKY rats may be driven, in part, both by external stimuli (ITI signal as well as by enhanced threat recognition to the warning signal via the PL cortex.

Prior experience of unsignaled food can interfere with subsequent acquisition by birds of autoshaped key-pecking at a signal light. This has been understood to indicate that unsignaled food results in context conditioning, which blocks subsequent learning about the keylight-food relationship. In the present experiment with ratslever insertion as…

Full Text Available Animals learn to choose a proper action among alternatives to improve their odds of success in food foraging and other activities critical for survival. Through trial-and-error, they learn correct associations between their choices and external stimuli. While a neural network that underlies such learning process has been identified at a high level, it is still unclear how individual neurons and a neural ensemble adapt as learning progresses. In this study, we monitored the activity of single units in the rat medial and lateral agranular (AGm and AGl, respectively areas as rats learned to make a left or right side leverpress in response to a left or right side light cue. We noticed that rat movement parameters during the performance of the directional choice task quickly became stereotyped during the first 2-3 days or sessions. But learning the directional choice problem took weeks to occur. Accompanying rats’ behavioral performance adaptation, we observed neural modulation by directional choice in recorded single units. Our analysis shows that ensemble mean firing rates in the cue-on period did not change significantly as learning progressed, and the ensemble mean rate difference between left and right side choices did not show a clear trend of change either. However, the spatiotemporal firing patterns of the neural ensemble exhibited improved discriminability between the two directional choices through learning. These results suggest a spatiotemporal neural coding scheme in a motor cortical neural ensemble that may be responsible for and contributing to learning the directional choice task.

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Binge eating is often associated with stress-induced disruption of typical eating patterns. Three experiments were performed with the aim of developing a potential model for this effect by investigating the effect of presenting response-independent stimuli on rats' lever-pressing for food reinforcement during both fixed-interval (FI) and fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement. In Experiment 1, a response-independent brief tone (500-ms, 105-dB, broadband, noisy signal, ranging up to 16 kHz, with spectral peaks at 3 and 500 Hz) disrupted the performance on an FI 60-s schedule. Responding with the response-independent tone was more vigorous than in the absence of the tone. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2 using a within-subject design, but no such effect was noted when a light was employed as a disrupter. In Experiment 3, a 500-ms tone, but not a light, had a similar effect on rats' performance on FR schedules. This tone-induced effect may represent a release from response-inhibition produced by an aversive event. The implications of these results for modeling binge eating are discussed.

This paper describes the design and testing of an indirect hanging pendulum thrust balance using a laser-optical-lever principle to provide micro- to millinewton thrust measurement for the development of electric propulsion systems. The design philosophy allows the selection of the total thrust range in order to maximize resolution through a counterbalanced pendulum principle, as well as passive magnetic damping in order to allow relatively rapid transient thrust measurement. The balance was designed for the purpose of hollow cathode microthruster characterization, but could be applied to other electric propulsion devices in the thrust range of micro- to millinewtons. An initial thrust characterization of the T5 hollow cathode is presented

Full Text Available In this paper, we will present the impact of the conditions in pressing chambers during the pressing of wooden briquettes. The conditions in pressing chambers can significantly impact the resulting compacting pressure required for the pressing of briquettes. In the introduction, we show which parameters of the pressing chamber during pressing can impact the resulting compacting pressure. The experiment results which are shown in this paper described the detected impact of some important pressing chamber parameters. This experiment aims to detect the pressing chamber length impact and the impact of the way of pressing. By setting the pressing conditions, we will be able to achieve the suitable resulting compacting pressure with respect to the required final briquettes quality.

Full Text Available The article analyses Pakistan’s newspapers’ performance with regard to civil society in2003 by using content analysis approach. There is no gainsaying that a strong civil society guaranteesa strong democracy. In Pakistan, spells of military rule have stunted the growth of democracy,adversely affecting civil society. Media too has suffered as a result. Normative theories of media callfor laying down norms and conventions for media. In democracy, all sections of society should berepresented in media. In Pakistan’s case, due to military regimes and quasi democratic governments,combined with the demands of market economy, the media have largely not been able to fulfill thisresponsibility towards society. Social Responsibility demands that the media must fulfill itsresponsibility towards society, while giving a free space to all voices of society. In Pakistan, whethernewspapers played that role in 2003 when civil society had accelerated its campaign to end honorkillings and crimes against women is investigated. The findings show that newspapers did supportcivil society, showing a gradual movement towards a more responsible press.

In the text entitled “Press advertising – varieties and sub-varieties. Methods of promoting the press”, the author discusses press advertising, which is a fast developing mass-media phenomenon. Modernity has granted press advertising a high quality of print and paper, as well as Infinite possibilities of combining various promotional forms with the press. The author argues that press advertising is one of the best ways in which a company can communicate with the market. Its advantage is, abov...

Full Text Available Abstract Background Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs are a class of organic compounds that bioaccumulate due to their chemical stability and lipophilic properties. Humans are prenatally exposed via trans-placental transfer, through breast milk as infants, and through fish, seafood and fatty foods as adolescents and adults. Exposure has several reported effects ranging from developmental abnormalities to cognitive and motor deficiencies. In the present study, three experimental groups of rats were orally exposed to PCBs typically found in human breast milk and then behaviorally tested for changes in measures of stimulus control (percentage lever-presses on the reinforcer-producing lever, activity level (responses with IRTs > 0.67 s, and responses with short IRTs ( Methods Male offspring from Wistar Kyoto (WKY/NTac dams purchased pregnant from Taconic Farms (Germantown, NY were orally given PCB at around postnatal day 8, 14, and 20 at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight at each exposure. Three experimental groups were exposed either to PCB 52, PCB 153, or PCB 180. A fourth group fed corn oil only served as controls. From postnatal day 25, for 33 days, the animals were tested for behavioral changes using an operant procedure. Results PCB exposure did not produce behavioral changes during training when responding was frequently reinforced using a variable interval 3 s schedule. When correct responses were reinforced on a variable interval 180 s schedule, animals exposed to PCB 153 or PCB 180 were less active than controls and animals exposed to PCB 52. Stimulus control was better in animals exposed to PCB 180 than in controls and in the PCB 52 group. Also, the PCB 153 and PCB 180 groups had fewer responses with short IRTs than the PCB 52 group. No effects of exposure to PCB 52 were found when compared to controls. Conclusions Exposure to PCBs 153 and 180 produced hypoactivity that continued at least five weeks after the last exposure. No effects of

The control exerted by a stimulus associated with an extinction component (S-) on observing responses was determined as a function of its temporal relation with the onset of the reinforcement component (S+). Leverpressing by rats was reinforced on a mixed random-interval extinction schedule. Each press on a second lever produced stimuli…

Flibanserin is a serotonin receptor subtype 1A agonist and 2A antagonist that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating female sexual interest and arousal disorder. Little is known about the abuse potential of flibanserin. To examine abuse-related effects of flibanserin in rats using an intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) procedure previously used to evaluate the abuse potential of other drugs. Adult female and male Sprague-Dawley rats with electrodes implanted in the medial forebrain bundle were trained to press a lever for electrical brain stimulation under a "frequency-rate" ICSS procedure. In this procedure, increasing frequencies of brain stimulation maintain increasing rates of responding. Drugs of abuse typically increase (or "facilitate") ICSS rates and produce leftward and upward shifts in ICSS frequency-rate curves, whereas drugs that lack abuse potential typically do not alter or only decrease ICSS rates. Initial studies determined the potency and time course of effects on ICSS produced by acute flibanserin administration (1.0, 3.2 and 10.0 mg/kg). Subsequent studies determined the effects of flibanserin (3.2-18 mg/kg) before and after a regimen of repeated flibanserin administration (5.6 mg/kg/d for 5 days). Effects of the abused stimulant amphetamine (1.0 mg/kg) were examined as a positive control. Flibanserin effects on ICSS frequency-rate curves in female and male rats were examined and compared with the effects of amphetamine. Baseline ICSS frequency-rate curves were similar in female and male rats. Acute and repeated administrations of flibanserin produced only decreases in ICSS rates, and rate-decreasing effects of the highest flibanserin dose (10 mg/kg) were greater in female than in male rats. In contrast to flibanserin, amphetamine produced an abuse-related increase in ICSS rates that did not differ between female and male rats. These results suggest that flibanserin has low abuse potential. In addition, this study

Smashing WordPress shows you how to utilize the power of the WordPress platform, and provides a creative spark to help you build WordPress-powered sites that go beyond the obvious. The second edition of Smashing WordPress has been updated for WordPress 3.1+, which includes internal, custom post types, the admin bar, and lots of other useful new features. You will learn the core concepts used to post types, the admin bar, and lots of other useful new features. You will learn the core concepts used to build just about anything in WordPress, resulting in fast deployments and greater design flexib

Over recent years, therapeutic patient education has become part of dental medicine. Management of early childhood caries, known to be a very common chronic disease, has evolved to include an educational dimension. The objective of this study was to identify the levers and barriers to the development of formalized therapeutic education programmes and alternatives. A comprehensive exploratory qualitative study was conducted between November 2015 and June 2016 on a targeted sample of 15 people aware of the problem of TPE in dentistry. The study showed that TPE training in dentistry is underdeveloped, despite its numerous benefits: change of the healthcare professional's approach, implementation of structured educational programmes, development of research, etc. There are many obstacles to the development of TPE programmes: insufficient resources, rigid legislation or lack of knowledge of TPE practices. The dental profession is an obstacle itself because of its lack of understanding and variable degrees of integration the medical community. There are multiple levers, but the main ones are changing attitudes of the profession and the provision of resources to develop TPE. Although alternatives to TPE programmes exist (accompanying measures, short educational strategies, connected health), they cannot replace TPE. More educational strategies must be developed in the field of dentistry. However, the framework of TPE must be adapted to the profession to ensure good uptake.

Previous studies have suggested that the two-handled (levered) shovel is advantageous over the conventional spade from a biomechanical point of view. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether less energy was consumed while shovelling a load of sand with this shovel compared to a conventional tool. Accordingly, an experiment was designed in which subjects (n = 10) shovelled 1815 kg sand under laboratory conditions using either a conventional or a levered shovel. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were measured continuously during the trial and subjective data on perceived exertion, general fatigue and body discomfort were recorded after the trial. Although total energy expenditure was similar under both conditions (120 +/- 20 and 125 +/- 25 kcal; conventional versus two-handled spade), average heart rate was 4% higher when the two-handled shovel was used (p shovel (p shovel 1815 kg sand with the conventional shovel and the two-handled tool despite lower mass of sand per scoop with the latter. This can be explained by the fact that the increased mass of the additional handle compensated for the lower mass of sand per scoop. The higher average heart rate while shovelling with the two-handled shovel can be explained by the more erect posture.

Unlike sagittal plane prosthesis alignment, few studies have observed the effects of transverse plane alignment on gait and prosthesis behaviour. Changes in transverse plane rotation angle will rotate the points of loading on the prosthesis during stance and may alter its mechanical behaviour. This study observed the effects of increasing the external transverse plane rotation angle, or toe-out, on foot compression and effective lever arm of three commonly prescribed prosthetic feet. The roll-over shape of a SACH, Flex and single-axis foot was measured at four external rotation angle conditions (0°, 5°, 7° and 12° relative to neutral). Differences in foot compression between conditions were measured as average distance between roll-over shapes. Increasing the transverse plane rotation angle did not affect foot compression. However, it did affect the effective lever arm, which was maximized with the 5° condition, although differences between conditions were small. Increasing the transverse plane rotation angle of prosthetic feet by up to 12° beyond neutral has minimal effects on their mechanical behaviour in the plane of walking progression during weight-bearing.

This paper focuses on the arguments around restriction on freedom of the press in the Strong States of Singapore and Malaysia. It assesses the presence of constraints on press freedoms in democratic western countries imposed by corporation rather than state and the similar effects that these constraints may have on bias present in publicly accessible news reporting. It argues that independence of the press does not just require protection from legal and executive regulation, but also protecti...

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Thousands of soldiers who served in the Gulf War have symptoms that have been collectively termed Gulf War Illness (GWI). It has been suggested that a combination of operational stress and pyridostigmine, a drug given as a pretreatment to protect soldiers against the effects of exposure to nerve agents, might have had unexpected adverse health effects causing these symptoms. Our laboratory has previously modeled operational stress in rats using a paradigm of around-the-clock intermittent signalled footshock. In the present studies, this model was used to investigate the potential synergistic effects of chronic stress and pyridostigmine on physiology and behavior. Seventy-two rats were trained to perform an alternation leverpressing task to earn their entire daily food intake. The rats were then implanted with osmotic minipumps containing vehicle, pyridostigmine (25 mg/ml pyridostigmine bromide) or physostigmine (20 mg/ml eserine hemisulfate). The pumps delivered 1 microl/h, which resulted in a cumulative dosing of approximately 1.5 mg/kg/day of pyridostigmine or 1.2 mg/kg/day of physostigmine, equimolar doses of the two drugs. The rats were then returned to their home cages where performance continued to be measured 24 h/day. After 4 days, 24 of the 72 rats were trained to escape signalled footshock (avoidance-escape group) and 24 other rats (yoked-stressed group) were each paired to a rat in the avoidance-escape group. The remaining 24 rats were not subjected to footshock (unstressed group). Shock trials were intermittently presented in the home cage 24 h/day for 3 days, while alternation performance continued to be measured. Since only 12 test cages were available, each condition was repeated to achieve a final n of six rats per group. Pyridostigmine and physostigmine each decreased blood acetylcholinesterase levels by approximately 50%. Physostigmine also decreased brain cortical acetylcholinesterase levels by approximately 50%, while pyridostigmine had no

A series of experiments was performed to determine whether sign-tracking would occur in rats with intravenous (i.v.) cocaine as the unconditioned stimulus. In Experiment 1, a retractable lever paired with food produced strong sign-tracking, but a lever paired with one of three doses of i.v. cocaine did not elicit any approach or contact behavior. Experiment 2 demonstrated that doses of cocaine that did not elicit sign-tracking would function as a positive reinforcer for a lever contact operant. In Experiment 3, an artificial consummatory response was added to make the cocaine reinforcement episode more behaviorally comparable to that occasioned by food. Although the rats readily performed this response when it was required to receive cocaine infusions, they still did not contact a lever that signaled the availability of these infusions. It appears that cocaine is different from other positive reinforcers (e.g., food, water, warmth, or intracranial stimulation) in that it will not produce sign-tracking in rats.

The present study evaluated the consequences of perinatal Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ 9 -THC) treatment (5 mg/kg/day by gavage), either alone or combined with ethanol (3% v/v as the only fluid available), on ethanol self-administration and alcohol-seeking behavior in rat adult offspring. Furthermore, the effect of the selective cannabinoid CB 1 receptor antagonist, SR-141716A, on ethanol self-administration and on reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior induced either by stress or conditioned drug-paired cues was evaluated in adult offspring of rats exposed to the same perinatal treatment. Lastly, microarray experiments were conducted to evaluate if perinatal treatment with Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol, ethanol or their combination causes long-term changes in brain gene expression profile in rats. The results of microarray data analysis showed that 139, 112 and 170 genes were differentially expressed in the EtOH, Δ 9 -THC, or EtOH + Δ 9 -THC group, respectively. No differences in alcohol self-administration and alcohol seeking were observed between rat groups. Intraperitoneal (IP) administration of SR-141716A (0.3-3.0 mg/kg) significantly reduced leverpressing for ethanol and blocked conditioned reinstatement of alcohol seeking. At the same doses SR-141716A failed to block foot-shock stress-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking. The results reveal that perinatal exposure to Δ 9 -THC ethanol or their combination results in evident changes in gene expression patterns. However, these treatments do not significantly affect vulnerability to ethanol abuse in adult offspring. On the other hand, the results obtained with SR-141716A emphasize that endocannabinoid mechanisms play a major role in ethanol self-administration, as well as in the reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior induced by conditioned cues, supporting the idea that cannabinoid CB 1 receptor antagonists may represent interesting agents for the pharmacotherapy of alcoholism

On April 14, 1985, the Westinghouse Nuclear Services Integration Division (NSID) issued Technical Bulletin No. NSID-TB-85-17 advising their customers of a potential malfunction in Westinghouse Type DS Class 1E circuit breakers because of broken spring release latch levers. These electrically operated type DS breakers will not close electrically when the spring release latch lever has been broken off. Twenty-five broken levers have been reported and evaluated. This evaluation shows concentrations of incidents traceable to manufacturing in the following periods of time: early 1975, April 1976, and early 1978. This circuit breaker failure, as discussed, adversely affects the safety function (closing on demand) when the circuit breaker is used in the Engineered Safety Features Systems. However, this failure mode will not affect the safety trip function when it is used in the reactor protection system

Research into press reporting on young people has tended to concentrate on young people as offenders. In contrast, this article focuses on press coverage of teenagers as victims. Reports in two Swedish newspapers (a morning broadsheet and an evening tabloid) were studied over a period of four months and subjected to a qualitative analysis of…

Discusses a number of topics involving the campus press, including the independence of campus publications, censorship issues, the relationship between the student press and the college administrator, the financing of student newspapers, yearbook production and financing, probable future student publications trends, and the need for appropriate…

Care integration has been the focus of recent health system reforms. Given their functions at all levels of the care continuum, nurses have a substantial and primordial role to play in such integration processes. The aim of this study was to identify levers and strategies that organizations can use to support the development of a nursing practice aligned with the requirements of care integration in a health and social services centre (HSSC) in Quebec. The research design was a cross-sectional descriptive qualitative study based on a single case study with nested levels of analysis. The case was a public, multi-disciplinary HSSC in a semi-urban region of Quebec. Semi-structured interviews with 37 persons (nurses, professionals, managers, administrators) allowed for data saturation and ensured theoretical representation by covering four care pathways constituting different care integration contexts. Analysis involved four steps: preparing a predetermined list of codes based on the reference framework developed by Minkman (2011); coding transcript content; developing general and summary matrices to group observations for each care pathway; and creating a general model showing the overall results for the four pathways. The organization's capacity for response with regard to developing an integrated system of services resulted in two types of complementary interventions. The first involved investing in key resources and renewing organizational structures; the second involved deploying a series of organizational and clinical-administrative processes. In resource terms, integration efforts resulted in setting up new strategic services, re-arranging physical infrastructures, and deploying new technological resources. Organizational and clinical-administrative processes to promote integration involved renewing governance, improving the flow of care pathways, fostering continuous quality improvement, developing new roles, promoting clinician collaboration, and strengthening

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the autonomic modulation of the cardiovascular system in streptozotocin (STZ-induced diabetic spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR, evaluating baroreflex sensitivity and arterial pressure and heart rate variability. METHODS: Male SHR were divided in control (SHR and diabetic (SHR+DM, 5 days after STZ groups. Arterial pressure (AP and baroreflex sensitivity (evaluated by tachycardic and bradycardic responses to changes in AP were monitored. Autoregressive spectral estimation was performed for systolic AP (SAP and pulse interval (PI with oscillatory components quantified as low (LF:0.2-0.6Hz and high (HF:0.6-3.0Hz frequency ranges. RESULTS: Mean AP and heart rate in SHR+DM (131±3 mmHg and 276±6 bpm were lower than in SHR (160±7 mmHg and 330±8 bpm. Baroreflex bradycardia was lower in SHR+DM as compared to SHR (0.55±0.1 vs. 0.97±0.1 bpm/mmHg. Overall SAP variability in the time domain (standard deviation of beat-by-beat time series of SAP was lower in SHR+DM (3.1±0.2 mmHg than in SHR (5.7±0.6 mmHg. The standard deviation of the PI was similar between groups. Diabetes reduced the LF of SAP (3.3±0.8 vs. 28.7±7.6 mmHg2 in SHR, while HF of SAP were unchanged. The power of oscillatory components of PI did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the association of hypertension and diabetes causes an impairment of the peripheral cardiovascular sympathetic modulation that could be, at least in part, responsible for the reduction in AP levels. Moreover, this study demonstrates that diabetes might actually impair the reduced buffer function of the baroreceptors while reducing blood pressure.OBJETIVO: O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar a modulação autonômica do sistema cardiovascular em ratos espontâneamente hipertensos (SHR e diabéticos por estreptozotocina (STZ, avaliando a sensibilidade do reflexo barorreceptor e a variabilidade da pressão arterial e da

Avoidance behaviors, in which a learned response causes omission of an upcoming punisher, are a core feature of many psychiatric disorders. While reinforcement learning (RL) models have been widely used to study the development of appetitive behaviors, less attention has been paid to avoidance. Here, we present a RL model of lever-press avoidance learning in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and in the inbred Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rat, which has been proposed as a model of anxiety vulnerability. We focus on “warm-up,” transiently decreased avoidance responding at the start of a testing session, which is shown by SD but not WKY rats. We first show that a RL model can correctly simulate key aspects of acquisition, extinction, and warm-up in SD rats; we then show that WKY behavior can be simulated by altering three model parameters, which respectively govern the tendency to explore new behaviors vs. exploit previously reinforced ones, the tendency to repeat previous behaviors regardless of reinforcement, and the learning rate for predicting future outcomes. This suggests that several, dissociable mechanisms may contribute independently to strain differences in behavior. The model predicts that, if the “standard” inter-session interval is shortened from 48 to 24 h, SD rats (but not WKY) will continue to show warm-up; we confirm this prediction in an empirical study with SD and WKY rats. The model further predicts that SD rats will continue to show warm-up with inter-session intervals as short as a few minutes, while WKY rats will not show warm-up, even with inter-session intervals as long as a month. Together, the modeling and empirical data indicate that strain differences in warm-up are qualitative rather than just the result of differential sensitivity to task variables. Understanding the mechanisms that govern expression of warm-up behavior in avoidance may lead to better understanding of pathological avoidance, and potential pathways to modify these processes. PMID

Updated, full-color guide to creating dynamic websites with WordPress 3.6 In this updated new edition, bestselling For Dummies author and WordPress expert Lisa Sabin-Wilson makes it easy for anyone with a basic knowledge of the WordPress software to create a custom site using complementary technologies such as CSS, HTML, PHP, and MySQL. You'll not only get up to speed on essential tools and technologies and further advance your own design skills, this book also gives you pages of great case studies, so you can see just how other companies and individuals are creating compelling, customized, a

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The eagerly anticipated second edition, completely updated for WordPress 3.1 As an open source content management system, WordPress allows users to easily build feature-rich web sites with no programming experience. This unique book-and-video package is a friendly, self-paced beginners guide to the latest release of WordPress. Lessons are focused on practical, everyday tasks that users will need to create and maintain their sites: entering new content, creating new pages, managing menus, making content search-engine friendly. Plus you'll find lots of tips based on years of experience teaching

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The servo press with a flywheel is able to provide flexible motions with energy-saving merit, but its true potential has not been thoroughly studied and verified. In this paper, such the “hybrid-driven” servo press is focused on, and the stamping capacity and the energy distribution between the flywheel and the servomotor are investigated. The capacity is derived based on the principle of energy conservation, and a method of using a capacity percentage plane for evaluation is proposed. A case study is included to illustrate and interpret that the stamping capacity is highly dependent on the programmed punch motions, thus the capacity prediction is always necessary while applying this kind of servo press. The energy distribution is validated by blanking experiments, and the results indicate that the servomotor needs only to provide 15% to the flywheel torque, 12% of the total stamping energy. This validates that the servomotor power is significantly saved in comparison with conventional servo presses.

This is a practical, hands-on book based around a fictitious case study blog, which you will build on a development server using WordPress. The case study grows chapter by chapter, from installing your local development server, right up to the finished blog. This book is for anybody running or starting a business blog using WordPress, whether you plan to use your blog for PR and marketing, or want to profit directly from blogging.

What's important to Danish people in Denmark and in the world - most will argue for the importance of a free critical press, solidarity with people who need help and a peaceful world.......What's important to Danish people in Denmark and in the world - most will argue for the importance of a free critical press, solidarity with people who need help and a peaceful world....

In this paper, the public debate following the re-ligion-motivated assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004 is examined. The paper aims at describ-ing religious as well as secular positions in the Danish debate about freedom of speech and press in relation to religious issues....... Historically, the concept of press freedom was linked to a fight for religious freedom in London, as described by Siebert....

The chips exhausted from various machine tools are massy, occupy much space and make working environment worse by staying added cutting oil to lower part. The chips are exhausted as a result of machining and have not constant quality. Even if used material is same the chips have various shapes and properties by kinds and machining methods of used machine tools, and are troublesome materials from a standpoint of their treatment. Pressing and solidification of the chips have frequently been tried. A chip compacting press introduced in this paper, a relatively cheap chip compacting press aimed for relatively small scale chip treatment, and has such characteristics and effects as follows. Chips are pressed and solidified by each raw material, so fractional management can be easily conducted. As casting metal chips and curled chips of iron and aluminum can be pressed to about 1/3 to 1/5 and about 1/40, respectively, space saving can be conducted. Chip compacting pressing upgrades its transporting efficiency to make possible to reduce its transporting cost. As chip solidification controls its oxidation and most cutting oil are removed, chips are easy to recycle. 2 figs., 1 tab.

Parrotfishes (family Labridae: Scarini) are regarded to have important roles for maintaining the ecosystem balance in coral reefs due to their removal of organic matter and calcic substrates by grazing. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the interspecific differences in grazing ability of five parrotfish species (Chlorurus sordidus, C. bowersi, Scarus rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni) in relation to interspecific differences in jaw-lever mechanics and the relative weight of the adductor mandibulae (muscles operating jaw closing). The grazing ability was calculated by using stomach contents (CaCO3 weight/organic matter weight) defined as the grazing ability index (GAI). There were significant interspecific differences in GAI (C. sordidus = C. bowersi > S. rivulatus > S. niger = S. forsteni). Teeth of C. sordidus and C. bowersi were protrusive-shape whereas teeth of S. rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni were flat-shape. C. sordidus and C. bowersihave jaw-lever mechanics producing a greater biting force and have a larger weight of adductor mandibulae. S. rivulatus has jaw-lever mechanics producing a greater biting force but a smaller weight of adductor mandibulae that produce an intermediate biting force. In contrast, S. niger and S. forsteni have jaw-lever mechanics producing a lesser biting force and have a smaller weight of adductor mandibulae. Feeding rates and foray size of S. rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni were greater than C. sordidus and C. bowersi. The degree in bioerosion (GAI × feeding rate) was the largest for S. rivulatusand the smallest for S. forsteni. The degree in bioerosion for C. sordidus was larger than S. niger whereas relatively equal between C. bowersi and S. niger. These results suggest that interspecific difference in GAI was explained by interspecific differences in teeth shape, jaw-lever mechanics and relative weight of adductor mandibulae. The interspecific difference in the degree of bioerosion suggests the

The key question in understanding how force and movement are produced in muscle concerns the nature of the cyclic interaction of myosin molecules with actin filaments. The lever arm of the globular head of each myosin molecule is thought in some way to swing axially on the actin-attached motor domain, thus propelling the actin filament past the myosin filament. Recent X-ray diffraction studies of vertebrate muscle, especially those involving the analysis of interference effects between myosin head arrays in the two halves of the thick filaments, have been claimed to prove that the lever arm moves at the same time as the sliding of actin and myosin filaments in response to muscle length or force steps. It was suggested that the sliding of myosin and actin filaments, the level of force produced and the lever arm angle are all directly coupled and that other models of lever arm movement will not fit the X-ray data. Here, we show that, in addition to interference across the A-band, which must be occurring, the observed meridional M3 and M6 X-ray intensity changes can all be explained very well by the changing diffraction effects during filament sliding caused by heads stereospecifically attached to actin moving axially relative to a population of detached or non-stereospecifically attached heads that remain fixed in position relative to the myosin filament backbone. Crucially, and contrary to previous interpretations, the X-ray interference results provide little direct information about the position of the myosin head lever arm; they are, in fact, reporting relative motor domain movements. The implications of the new interpretation are briefly assessed.

Rationale Positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of type 5 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5) exert pro-cognitive effects in animal models of various neuropsychiatric diseases. However, few studies to date have examined ability of mGluR5 PAMs to reverse cognitive deficits in operant delayed matching/non-matching-to-sample (DMS/DNMS) tasks. Objectives To determine the ability of the mGluR5 PAM 3-cyano-N-1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)benzamide (CDPPB) to reverse set-shifting deficits induced by the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801. Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats were initially trained to leverpress for sucrose reinforcement under either DMS or DNMS conditions. Following successful acquisition of the task, reinforcement conditions were reversed (DNMS→DMS or DMS→DNMS). In Experiment 1, rats were treated daily prior to each session with either vehicle/vehicle, vehicle/MK-801 (0.06 mg/kg) simultaneously, CDPPB (20 mg/kg)/MK-801 simultaneously, or CDPPB 30 min prior to MK-801. In Experiment 2, rats were treated with either vehicle/vehicle, vehicle/MK-801, or CDPPB 30 min prior to MK-801 only prior to sessions that followed task reversal. Results In Experiment 1, no group differences in initial task acquisition were observed. Rats treated with vehicle+MK−801 showed significant set-shifting impairments following task reversal, which were partially attenuated by simultaneous administration of CDPPB/MK-801, and completely precluded by administration of CDPPB 30 min prior to MK-801. In Experiment 2, MK-801 did not impair reversal learning and no other group differences were observed. Conclusions MK-801 induced deficits in operant set-shifting ability were prevented by pretreatment with CDPPB. MK-801 did not produce deficits in initial task learning or when treatment was initiated following task reversal. PMID:24973895

The performance of four strains of rats commonly used in behavioural research was assessed in three different tests of learning and memory. The four strains included three outbred lines (Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, Wistar) and one inbred strain (S3). Learning and memory were tested using three different paradigms: autoshaping of a leverpress, a two-object discrimination test, and performance in a two-island swim maze task. The pigmented strains showed better performance in the autoshaping procedure: the majority of the Long-Evans and the S3 rats acquired the response, and the majority of the Wistar and Sprague-Dawley failed to acquire the response in the set time. The albino strains were slightly better in the swim maze than the pigmented strains. There appeared to be a speed/accuracy trade-off in the strategy used to solve the task. This was also evident following treatment with the cholinergic-depleting agent hemicholinium-3. The performance of the Long-Evans rats was most affected by the treatment in terms of accuracy and the Wistar and Sprague-Dawleys in terms of speed. In the two-object discrimination test only the Long-Evans showed satisfactory performance and were able to discriminate a novel from a known object a short interval after initial exposure. These results show large task- and strain-dependent differences in performance in tests of learning and memory. Some of the performance variation may be due to emotional differences between the strains and may be alleviated by extra training. However, the response to pharmacological manipulation may require more careful evaluation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Sensitization to the rate-decreasing effects of opioid antagonists induced by acute pretreatment with opioid agonists has been suggested to reflect initial changes in opioid systems that underlie physical dependence. Glutamate receptors are implicated in the development and expression of opioid dependence, and antagonists acting at the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptors have been shown repeatedly to attenuate the severity of opioid withdrawal. The present study evaluated the ability of a competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, D-CPPene (SDZ EAA 494; 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-1-propenyl-1-phosphonic acid), to affect morphine-induced sensitization to naloxone in rats trained to lever-press on a multiple-trial, fixed-ratio 10 schedule of food reinforcement. D-CPPene (0.3-3 mg/kg) was administered either 4 h or 30 min prior to the test session. Morphine (10 mg/kg) or its vehicle was administered 4 h before naloxone challenge (0.3-3 mg/kg). D-CPPene failed to prevent morphine-induced potentiation of the naloxone-produced decrement in operant performance. Thus, these results suggest that agonist-induced sensitization to behavioral effects of opioid antagonists may be insensitive to NMDA receptor blockade.

.... Alcohol consumption by humans can be modeled in the rat using operant behavioral procedures in which an arbitrary response, such as a leverpress, is reinforced by the presentation of small amounts...

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the arguments around restriction on freedom of the press in the Strong States of Singapore and Malaysia. It assesses the presence of constraints on press freedoms in democratic western countries imposed by corporation rather than state and the similar effects that these constraints may have on bias present in publicly accessible news reporting. It argues that independence of the press does not just require protection from legal and executive regulation, but also protection from large media corporations and their political alignments. This report will assess the bias of reporting and news media publication that exists in Malaysia and Singapore due to legislative and regulatory constraints as opposed to bias that exist in the western liberal democratic nations of the United Kingdom (UK and the United States of America (USA due to Media Organisation control.

on a broadly encompassing and ambiguous definition of CSR. Our empirical data shows how the business press in its discourse on CSR provides no clarity on the definition of CSR in terms of a coherent motive, a dominant stakeholder or a consistent issue, but rather maintains ambiguity and imprecision about......In this paper we analyze the construction of corporate social responsibility in the business press as an act of strategic ambiguity. While corporate social responsibility (CSR) generally evokes positive associations in public opinion, this paper demonstrates that these associations are based...... is systematically maintained in the business press. We refer to this process as strategic ambiguity. The paper discusses the potential value and limitations of framing CSR in a state of strategic ambiguity in the context of the concurrent rethinking of the role of business in modern welfare societies....

1. Senescent rats were maintained on choline-deficient and choline-enriched diets. The modifications in rat behaviour caused by the chronic manipulations of dietary choline were studied in two schedules of operant conditioning. 2. In the "periodic conditioning" test, the schedule of reinforcement, in a 100 min trial, was changed from a fixed ratio to a fixed interval schedule. In the "reversal" test the contingency for food delivery was switched four times from one lever to the other in a two lever Skinner box. 3. In the "periodic conditioning" test, the choline enriched group (430 mg/Kg/day) showed the same reduction of responses/reinforcement as controls, from the beginning to the end of trial; in the same group the time course reduction of responses/reinforcement became significant earlier than in the control group. The deficient-choline group in the last 40 min of "periodic conditioning" trial gave a reduction of responses/reinforcement greater than controls and one rat in the group did not learn the change of experimental schedule and extinguished its operant behaviour. 4. In the "reversal" test, the choline-enriched diet (320 mg/Kg/day) improved the reinforced responses in the IV reversal; one rat of the deficient-choline group could not learn the new operant schedule since the first reversal and continued to respond on the same lever during the whole of the test.

The book's accompanying Interactive learning environment on siteprebuilder.com gives you an online place to enhance and extend your practical experience through exercises, consolidate your learning and theoretical knowledge with marked quizzes, interaction with your WordPress marketing community, and fun and exciting extras such as challenges and competitions. This book is for people already using WordPress, who want more visitors, better visitors, and to convert more of them into paying customers. No prior marketing experience is required, although a basic understanding of either hosted or se

Create and expand feature-rich sites with no programming experience Ready to build, maintain, and expand your web site with WordPress but have no prior programming experience? WordPress 24-Hour Trainer, 3rd Edition is your book-and-video learning solution that walks you step-by-step through all the important features you will need to know. Lessons range from focused, practical everyday tasks to more advanced, creative features. Learn from an industry professional how to enter content, create pages, manage menus, utilize plug-ins, connect to social media, create membership and e-commerce site

Rats with either control operations or lateral, medial, or complete septal lesions received 600 trials of leverpress training using an autoshaping procedure, i.e., food delivery followed a 10 s illuminated lever presentation, or occurred immediately after a leverpress. Rats with complete septal lesions acquired the leverpress faster than controls and had more food-tray entries per minute during the first 100 trials than the other groups. Rats with lateral or medial septal lesions had leverpress and food-tray entries equivalent to controls. The facilitation of autoshaping a leverpress may partially be explained by the general increase in motor reactivity to stimuli found following septal lesions.

Full Text Available The article is concerned with studying the stages of formation and development of phenomenon of the «new economy». Interpretation of the concept of «new economy» by foreign and by domestic scholars has been considered, the historical origin of the term of «new economy» has been defined, principles of its formation have been explored. The authors used reports by the World Bank on the level of development of the knowledge-based economy. Two combined index – the Knowledge Economy Index and the Knowledge Index have been provided, together with the accompanying rating of the world countries. The factors, determining the development of innovation process: economic, technological, political, legal, socio-psychological, cultural, organizational, and managerial, have been identified. Problems of establishing the national innovation system in Ukraine have been defined and ways of overcoming them have been suggested. The authors have developed and graphically presented the scheme of the conditions of formation and the regulation levers of the «new economy».

This study is a comparison of AUPress with three other traditional (non-open access) Canadian university presses. The analysis is based on the rankings that are correlated with book sales on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Statistical methods include the sampling of the sales ranking of randomly selected books from each press. The results of one-way…

Journalists and media assistants in many places are murdered, imprisoned, censored, threatened, and similarly harrassed. Here I document that, and explain why, there are three climato-economic niches of press repression versus press freedom as part of broader syndromes of national culture. A

Full Text Available In this paper, we will present the impact of the conical shape of a pressing chamber, an important structural parameter. Besides the known impact of the technological parameters of pressing chambers, it is also very important to pay attention to their structural parameters. In the introduction, we present a theoretical analysis of pressing chamber conicalness. An experiment aimed at detecting this impact was performed at our institute, and it showed that increasing the conicalness of a pressing chamber improves the quality of the final briquettes. The conicalness of the pressing chamber has a significanteffect on the final briquette quality and on the construction of briquetting machines. The experimental findings presented here show the importance of this parameter in the briquetting process.

Repeated exposure to cocaine often leads to tolerance to effects on operant behavior, whereas sensitization often develops to effects on locomotor activity. The purpose of the present set of experiments was to examine if locomotor sensitization to cocaine would develop in the presence or absence of an operant contingency in rats. In Experiment 1, ratsleverpressed on an FR schedule of reinforcement, and were administered chronic cocaine. Tolerance to effects of cocaine on leverpressing deve...

... Judicial Administration BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTACT WITH PERSONS IN THE COMMUNITY Contact With News Media § 540.64 Press pools. (a) The Warden may establish a... shall notify all news media representatives who have requested interviews or visits that have not been...

Noting dramatic changes in First Amendment protections for high school students and new legal issues facing college newspaper editors, this book describes in detail the legal rights and responsibilities of both the high school and college press. While the book is extensively footnoted, it intentionally avoids "legal-ese" and "brings…

A smartly produced press kit resulted in unprecedented news coverage when Denver's Porter Adventist Hospital recently unveiled plans for an extensive 80 million dollars redevelopment. A news conference was held to announce this plan, along with the opening of the hospital's new emergency department. The overall effort is part of the new branding strategy of the 75-year-old hospital.

Results of an experimental investigation into pressing of compacts of MCh type molybdenum powders using the industrial equipment are presented. To measure the density of powder molybdenum billets a radioisotopic density meter with cesium-137 is used as radioactive gamma radiation source. The dependence of the produced billet density on the specific compacting pressure at different values of the powder bulk density is ascertained

The nature of eye-pressing as a visual stimulation mannerism in children with severely impaired eyesight is examined, and a possible physiological explanation (that self-stimulation occurs when the demand of the brain for meaningful visual information is not met) is offered. (CL)

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is often associated with asthma and mainly affects adolescent males with a tall, thin body habitus. A 17-year-old man complained of chest and pharyngeal pain after bench press training and spontaneous pneumomediastinum was diagnosed. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of chest pain of uncertain cause.

Summarizes the content of the federal constitution and various state constitutions regarding freedom of the press. Examines certain borderline issues, including actions and expressions, pornography, defamation, libel, and copyrighted material. States that regulation of unprotected material must be reasonable, specific, and clear. Discusses what…

This article describes a lesson in which students will examine several views expressed by the founders to understand the context for including freedom of the press in the First Amendment. Students will be asked to think about the role that the news media and the need to be an informed citizen continue to play in our democracy. Students will…

The Student Press Law Center serves as a national clearinghouse to collect, analyze, and distribute information on the First Amendment rights of student journalists and journalism teachers and on violations of these rights in high schools and colleges. This report details information concerning current censorship incidents: the investigation by…

In many countries, reporters and editors face criminal prosecution, censorship, self-censorship, exile, tax audits, loss of broadcast and publication licenses, loss of jobs, assault, and even assassination based on how they practice their profession. Press rights and human rights advocacy groups try to draw media and official attention to those…

From 1 August till 31 October, CERN users are invited to enjoy a trial access to all Cambridge University Press electronic books: http://ebooks.cambridge.org/. Please don't hesitate to send feedback to library.desk@cern.ch.

Parrotfishes (family Labridae: Scarini) are regarded to have important roles for maintaining the ecosystem balance in coral reefs due to their removal of organic matter and calcic substrates by grazing. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the interspecific differences in grazing ability of five parrotfish species (Chlorurus sordidus, C. bowersi, Scarus rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni) in relation to interspecific differences in jaw-lever mechanics and the relative weight of th...

On July 1, 1992, Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO), licensee for North Anna Power Station (North Anna), Units 1 and 2, reported to the NRC that over a three-month period in 1992, three K-M model NZM6-63, 480-Vac MCCBs had tripped without appreciable load or fault condition or other electrical or mechanical transient. The three failed MCCBs were located in the cable vault and tunnel area of North Anna-2 and supplied power to motor operated valves in the charging and safety injection systems. The switch handles were found in the trip-free position and the breakers could not be relatched and reclosed. Examination of the internals of one of the three failed breakers revealed that its support lever (also described by VEPCO as a ''spring arm''), located in the rear compartment of the case, had fractured. This caused the breaker to trip and to become incapable of being reclosed. The NRC has determined that the support levers only in K-M model NZM6, NZM6b, and NZMH6 MCCBs, rated for 100 amperes and below and manufactured from 1972 on, have been made of the same type of plastic used in the support levers of the MCCBs that failed at North Anna-2

Four male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate IP injections of 3.0 mg/kg phencyclidine (PCP) from saline under a 2-lever fixed-ratio 32 schedule of food presentation. After reliable discriminative control of lever choice was established, other doses of injected PCP were tested resulting in dose-dependent increases in PCP-lever selection and dose-dependent decreases in rates of responding. When doses of PCP were administered by exposure to smoke from cigarettes containing PCP, a dose-dependent increase in PCP-lever responding was also observed. delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol administered via smoke exposure, up to doses which markedly suppressed response rates, did not result in PCP-appropriate responding, demonstrating the specificity of the PCP stimulus by the inhalation route. Brain levels and distribution of 3 H-PCP were determined in rats administered doses calculated to result in 50% generalization by the IP injection or smoke inhalation routes. By both routes of administration roughly equivalent brain levels were attained and the distribution was relatively even across the seven brain areas analyzed. These results demonstrate the validity of using the injection route of administration when studying PCP experimentally, in spite of the fact that PCP is abused primarily by smoking

The third of a three-volume set of instructional materials for a graphic arts course, this manual consists of nine instructional units dealing with presses and related processes. Covered in the units are basic press fundamentals, offset press systems, offset press operating procedures, offset inks and dampening chemistry, preventive maintenance…

Full Text Available Parrotfishes (family Labridae: Scarini are regarded to have important roles for maintaining the ecosystem balance in coral reefs due to their removal of organic matter and calcic substrates by grazing. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the interspecific differences in grazing ability of five parrotfish species (Chlorurus sordidus, C. bowersi, Scarus rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni in relation to interspecific differences in jaw-lever mechanics and the relative weight of the adductor mandibulae (muscles operating jaw closing. The grazing ability was calculated by using stomach contents (CaCO3 weight/organic matter weight defined as the grazing ability index (GAI. There were significant interspecific differences in GAI (C. sordidus = C. bowersi > S. rivulatus > S. niger = S. forsteni. Teeth of C. sordidus and C. bowersi were protrusive-shape whereas teeth of S. rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni were flat-shape. C. sordidus and C. bowersihave jaw-lever mechanics producing a greater biting force and have a larger weight of adductor mandibulae. S. rivulatus has jaw-lever mechanics producing a greater biting force but a smaller weight of adductor mandibulae that produce an intermediate biting force. In contrast, S. niger and S. forsteni have jaw-lever mechanics producing a lesser biting force and have a smaller weight of adductor mandibulae. Feeding rates and foray size of S. rivulatus, S. niger and S. forsteni were greater than C. sordidus and C. bowersi. The degree in bioerosion (GAI × feeding rate was the largest for S. rivulatusand the smallest for S. forsteni. The degree in bioerosion for C. sordidus was larger than S. niger whereas relatively equal between C. bowersi and S. niger. These results suggest that interspecific difference in GAI was explained by interspecific differences in teeth shape, jaw-lever mechanics and relative weight of adductor mandibulae. The interspecific difference in the degree of bioerosion suggests

The bench press exercise (BPE) is receiving increasing interest as a field testing, training/therapeutic modality to improve neuromuscular performance or to increase bone mass density. Several studies have been performed using BPE as a standard for increasing upper-limb strength. For this purpose, the position of the bar, the loads, the sets, the number of repetitions, the recovery time in-between sets, the movement speed, the muscular work and the use of the determination of the one repetition maximum (1-RM) are the classical tools investigated in the literature that have been shown to affect the BPE effect on neuromuscular. The goal of the present short review is to make a picture of the current knowledge on the bench press exercise, which could be very helpful for a better understanding of this standard movement and its effects. Based on the related literature, several recommendations on these key points are presented here.

Current regulations require industry to meet air emission standards with regard to particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and other gases. One of many industries that will be affected by the new regulations is the wood composites industry. This industry generates VOCs, HAPs, and particulates mainly during the drying and pressing of wood. Current air treatment technologies for the industry are expensive to install and operate. As regulations become more stringent, treatment technologies will need to become more efficient and cost effective. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the use of process conditions and chemical additives to reduce VOC/HAPs in air emitted from presses and dryers during the production of oriented strand board.

The hot pressing of beryllium oxide powder into high density compacts with little or no density gradients is achieved by employing a homogeneous blend of beryllium oxide powder with a lithium oxide sintering agent. The lithium oxide sintering agent is uniformly dispersed throughout the beryllium oxide powder by mixing lithium hydroxide in an aqueous solution with beryllium oxide powder. The lithium hydroxide is converted in situ to lithium carbonate by contacting or flooding the beryllium oxide-lithium hydroxide blend with a stream of carbon dioxide. The lithium carbonate is converted to lithium oxide while remaining fixed to the beryllium oxide particles during the hot pressing step to assure uniform density throughout the compact.

Full Text Available In 1644 the debate for freedom of expression started in modern times thanks to John Milton’s Areopagitica, where he still argued about God in order to justify his quest for freedom. With the enlightenment God lost his unifying role for society and could no longer serve as justification. Two arguments were brought then forward to justify freedom of the press: One by the continental movement of the enlightenment; the other from within the movement of utilitarianism, and most influentially by John Stuart Mill. Both underlined the importance of truth; however, they differed in their understanding on what truth was good for. This difference in their arguments had a lasting impact on the debate on the limits of freedom of the press.

Full Text Available The relationships between institutional communication and media communication influence the shaping of social representations of public issues. This research article analyses these relationships based on the case study of the external communication of a public institution, the press releases of Spain’s Youth Institute (Instituto de la Juventud, aka, Injuve, during three years and their repercussion in the press during the same period of time. The results obtained in this research allowed drawing conclusions on the types of communication production of the aforementioned institution and the news treatment of such pieces of information by the printed and digital media. The press releases and the news items were studied using quantitative media content analysis which focused, especially, in referential issues like the information treatment, the thematic analysis, youth representations in the case of the releases; and the visibility of the press releases in the making of news

Full Text Available The questions of consolidation of nanopowders concerning hot compaction by pressing activated by electric current action are considered. Mechanisms of grain boundary creep-sliding which are sequentially prevalent in a forming of compacted structures under influence of temperature factor and in the presence of a direct electric heating are discussed. Structural-transformational sources and conditions of forming of high physical-mechanical properties of nanopowder refractory solid-state products are described.

This document brings together the subjects discussed during the Press breakfast of 23 may 2000 on the antimatter, with scientists of the CEA and the CNRS. It presents the research programs and the experiments on the antimatter and the symmetry violation: the CP LEAR and the NA48 experiments at CERN, the BaBar detector at SLAC, the fundamental research at the CEA and the impacts on the energy policy. It provides also links for more detailed inquiries. (A.L.B.)

Facing the public hostile purposes of october 2002, concerning the renewable energies, Andre Antolini, President of the renewable energies syndicate, proposed a press conference to give information, data and realizations on the renewable energies. The text of the conference is presented, as data on employment, biofuels, the wind energy, the hydro-electricity the greenhouse effect fight, the public opinion, the solar heating, the photovoltaic and the future projects and electric power supply for 2010. (A.L.B.)

Textbook presenting the fundamentals of tool design with special focus on jigs, fixtures and die design Covers sections on sheet metal forming processes; turning, grinding, broaching, welding and modular fixtures; principles of clamping; and an Introduction to Presses and Auxiliary Equipment Author has many years' experience in both academic and industrial environments, and presents this work in an easily-accessible style End of chapter questions and answers assist the learning process for both practicing tooling designers and engineers, and manufacturing en

Full Text Available Background. It seems that patients may ask general practitioners about natural cosmetics applied on the skin regarding their safety and suitability. Objectives. The aim of the study was to analyze natural cold pressed oils as potential cosmetic products. Material and methods. Cold pressed oils obtained from selected seeds and fruit stones were analyzed, including: chokeberry seed oil, blackcurrant seed oil, elderberry seed oil, raspberry seed oil, apricot seed oil, tomato seed oil, strawberry seed oil, broccoli seed oil, Nigella sativa seed oil, hemp oil, safflower seed oil, Silybum marianum seed oil and coconut oil. 80 adult volunteers assessed the cosmetic properties of the analyzed oils. Each of the volunteers tested 2 to 4 different oils, by applying them on the skin. In addition, patch tests with all analyzed oils were performed on 23 individuals. Results. The majority of tested oils were positively evaluated by the participants: in the opinion of the participants, oil extracted from safflower had the best appearance (100% positive opinions, coconut oil had the best smell (70% positive opinions, while black currant seed oil showed the best absorbency (85% positive opinions. No irritation was observed within the analyzed product group, albeit one allergic reaction to apricot seed oil was observed with patch testing. Conclusions . Based on the achieved results, it could be suggested that natural cold pressed oils can be applied to the skin as cosmetics. Our observations may be helpful for general practitioners when choosing natural cosmetics.

Stamping of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) alloys poses several challenges due to the material's higher strength and low formability compared to conventional steels and other problems such as (a) inconsistency of incoming material properties, (b) ductile fracture during forming, (c) higher contact pressure and temperature rise during forming, (d) higher die wear leading to reduced tool life, (e) higher forming load/press capacity, and (f) large springback leading to dimensional inaccuracy in the formed part. [Palaniswamy et. al., 2007]. The use of AHSS has been increasing steadily in automotive stamping. New AHSS alloys (TRIP, TWIP) may replace some of the Hot Stamping applications. Stamping of AHSS alloys, especially higher strength materials, 780 MPa and higher, present new challenges in obtaining good part definition (corner and fillet radii), formability (fracture and resulting scrap) and in reducing springback. Servo-drive presses, having the capability to have infinitely variable and adjustable ram speed and dwell at BDC, offer a potential improvement in quality, part definition, and springback reduction especially when the infinitely adjustable slide motion is used in combination with a CNC hydraulic cushion. Thus, it is desirable to establish a scientific/engineering basis for improving the stamping conditions in forming AHSS using a servo-drive press.

Introduction: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has become an accepted treatment for endstage liver disease. However, postoperative complications result in significant patient morbidity and mortality. Early detection and treatment of these complications is therefore of utmost importance. Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the postoperative complications of the patients who underwent OLT at our institution. Duplex Doppler sonography and cholangiography were the primary imaging modalities in postoperative evaluation of the transplanted liver. Other important techniques were CT, MRI, and angiography, which may contribute to a reliable diagnosis of vascular or biliary complications. Results: Second to primary organ dysfunction, vascular complications are the most frequent cause of graft loss. Thrombosis of the hepatic artery is the most common and most serious vascular complication, with a reported incidence from 4 to 42%. Bile duct sludge, leaks and strictures are frequent complications after liver transplantation, which can contribute to graft dysfunction. Biliary tract complications usually occur within the first 3 months and require interventional radiological or surgical therapy. Since liver transplant recipients undergo immunosuppressive therapy, they are at increased risk of developing late post-transplant malignancies, which are best depicted by US, CT or MRI. However, radiological diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorder has to be confirmed by liver biopsy. Conclusion: Cholangiography and Duplex sonography are routinely used in the postoperative evaluation of patients with OLT. CT, MRI, and angiography are problem-solving tools in equivocal cases. (orig.) [de

This paper reports a longitudinal multi-case research project encompassing 72 semi-structured interviews carried out in 2011 and 2012. The interviews covered topics of the collaboration type, the initiation of the collaboration and details concerning the planning of the collaborations. In additio...

In a changing European market, GRTgaz company is in charge of the double mission of supplying natural gas to the end user in optimal cost and security conditions, and also of accompanying the opening of the gas market in France by making the necessary arrangements for a non-discriminatory access of the network to all granted suppliers. GRTgaz, daughter company of Gaz de France group and in charge of gas transport, has laid down the goal to develop its supply capacity thanks to an ambitious program of investment for the 10 years to come. Beside the advantage of allowing the end user to chose his gas supplier, these investments offer the opportunity of improving the safety of facilities and of reducing their environmental impact. This article presents an interview of J. Laurelut, general director of GRTgaz, who explains the 10 years development plan of his company. (J.S.)

Craving for chocolate is a common phenomenon, which may evolve to an addictive-like behaviour and contribute to obesity. Nepicastat is a selective dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) inhibitor that suppresses cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats. We verified whether nepicastat was able to modify the reinforcing and motivational properties of a chocolate solution and to prevent the reinstatement of chocolate seeking in rats. Nepicastat (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) produced a dose-related inhibition of operant self-administration of the chocolate solution in rats under fixed-ratio 10 (FR10) and progressive-ratio schedules of reinforcement, measures of the reinforcing and motivational properties of the chocolate solution, respectively. The effect of nepicastat on the reinstatement of chocolate seeking was studied in rats in which lever-responding had been extinguished by removing the chocolate solution for approximately 8 d. Nepicastat dose-dependently suppressed the reinstatement of lever-responding triggered by a 'priming' of the chocolate solution together with cues previously associated with the availability of the reward. In a separate group of food-restricted rats trained to lever-respond for regular food pellets, nepicastat reduced FR10 lever-responding with the same potency as for the chocolate solution. Spontaneous locomotor activity was not modified by nepicastat doses that reduced self-administration of the chocolate solution and regular food pellets and suppressed the reinstatement of chocolate seeking. The results indicate that nepicastat reduces motivation to food consumption sustained by appetite or palatability. Moreover, the results suggest that DBH inhibitors may be a new class of pharmacological agents potentially useful in the prevention of relapse to food seeking in human dieters.

There is a focus on developing D3 receptor antagonists as cocaine addiction treatments. We investigated the effects of a novel selective D3 receptor antagonist, SR 21502, on cocaine reward, cocaine-seeking, food reward, spontaneous locomotor activity and cocaine-induced locomotor activity in rats. In Experiment 1, rats were trained to self-administer cocaine under a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement and tested with vehicle or one of three doses of SR 21502. In Experiment 2, animals were trained to self-administer cocaine under a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement followed by extinction of the response. Then, animals were tested with vehicle or one of the SR 21502 doses on cue-induced reinstatement of responding. In Experiment 3, animals were trained to leverpress for food under a PR schedule and tested with vehicle or one dose of the compound. In Experiments 4 and 5, in separate groups of animals, the vehicle and three doses of SR 21502 were tested on spontaneous or cocaine (10 mg/kg, IP)-induced locomotor activity, respectively. SR 21502 produced significant, dose-related (3.75, 7.5 and 15 mg/kg) reductions in breakpoint for cocaine self-administration, cue-induced reinstatement (3.75, 7.5 and 15 mg/kg) and cocaine-induced locomotor activity (3.75, 7.5 and 15 mg/kg) but failed to reduce food self-administration and spontaneous locomotor activity. SR 21502 decreases cocaine reward, cocaine-seeking and locomotor activity at doses that have no effect on food reward or spontaneous locomotor activity. These data suggest SR 21502 may selectively inhibit cocaine's rewarding, incentive motivational and stimulant effects.

The high prevalence of obesity and related metabolic diseases calls for greater understanding of the factors that drive excess energy intake. Calorie-dense palatable foods are readily available and often are paired with highly salient environmental cues. These cues can trigger food-seeking and consumption in the absence of hunger. Here we examined the effects of palatable food-paired environmental cues on control of instrumental food-seeking behavior. In Experiment 1, adult male rats received exposures to one context containing three "junk" foods (JFs context) and another containing chow (Chow context). Next, rats were food-deprived and trained to perform instrumental responses (lever-press) for two novel food rewards in a third, distinct context. Contextual influences on flexible control of food-seeking behavior were then assessed by outcome devaluation tests held in the JF, chow and training contexts. Devaluation was achieved using specific satiety and test order was counterbalanced. Rats exhibited goal-directed control over behavior when tested in the training and chow-paired contexts. Notably, performance was habitual (insensitive to devaluation) when tested in the JF context. In Experiment 2 we tested whether the impairment found in the JF context could be ameliorated by the presentation of a discrete auditory cue paired with the chow context, relative to a second cue paired with the JF context. Consistent with the results of Experiment 1, the devaluation effect was not significant when rats were tested in the JF context with the JF cue. However, presenting the chow cue increased the impact of the devaluation treatment leading to a robust devaluation effect. Further tests confirmed that performance in the chow context was goal-directed and that sensory-specific satiety in the JF context was intact. These results show that environments paired with palatable foods can impair goal-directed control over food-seeking behavior, but that this deficit was improved by

Full Text Available The high prevalence of obesity and related metabolic diseases calls for greater understanding of the factors that drive excess energy intake. Calorie-dense palatable foods are readily available and often are paired with highly salient environmental cues. These cues can trigger food-seeking and consumption in the absence of hunger. Here we examined the effects of palatable food-paired environmental cues on control of instrumental food-seeking behaviour. In Experiment 1, adult male rats received exposures to one context containing three ‘junk’ foods (JF context and another containing chow (Chow context. Next, rats were food-deprived and trained to perform instrumental responses (lever-press for two novel food rewards in a third, distinct context. Contextual influences on flexible control of food-seeking behaviour were then assessed by outcome devaluation tests held in the JF, chow, and training contexts. Devaluation was achieved using specific satiety and test order was counterbalanced. Rats exhibited goal-directed control over behaviour when tested in the training and chow-paired contexts. Notably, performance was habitual (insensitive to devaluation when tested in the JF context. In Experiment 2 we tested whether the impairment found in the JF context could be ameliorated by the presentation of a discrete auditory cue paired with the chow context, relative to a second cue paired with the JF context. Consistent with the results of Experiment 1, the devaluation effect was not significant when rats were tested in the JF context with the JF cue. However, presenting the chow cue increased the impact of the devaluation treatment leading to a robust devaluation effect. Further tests confirmed that performance in the chow context was goal-directed and that sensory-specific satiety in the JF context was intact. These results show that environments paired with palatable foods can impair goal-directed control over food-seeking behaviour, but that this

Drugs of abuse have detrimental effects on homeostatic synaptic plasticity in the motivational brain network. Bidirectional plasticity at excitatory synapses helps keep neural circuits within a functional range to allow for behavioral flexibility. Therefore, impaired bidirectional plasticity of excitatory synapses may contribute to the behavioral hallmarks of addiction, yet this relationship remains unclear. Here we tracked excitatory synaptic strength in the oval bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (ovBNST) using whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings in brain slices from rats self-administering sucrose or cocaine. In the cocaine group, we measured both a persistent increase in AMPA to NMDA ratio (A:N) and slow decay time of NMDA currents throughout the self-administration period and after withdrawal from cocaine. In contrast, the sucrose group exhibited an early increase in A:N ratios (acquisition) that returned toward baseline values with continued self-administration (maintenance) and after withdrawal. The sucrose rats also displayed a decrease in NMDA current decay time with continued self-administration (maintenance), which normalized after withdrawal. Cocaine self-administering rats exhibited impairment in NMDA-dependent long-term depression (LTD) that could be rescued by GluN2B-containing NMDA receptor blockade. Sucrose self-administering rats demonstrated no impairment in NMDA-dependent LTD. During the maintenance period of self-administration, in vivo (daily intraperitoneally for 5 days) pharmacologic blockade of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors did not reduce leverpressing for cocaine. However, in vivo GluN2B blockade did normalize A:N ratios in cocaine self-administrating rats, and dissociated the magnitude of ovBNST A:N ratios from drug-seeking behavior after protracted withdrawal. Altogether, our data demonstrate when and how bidirectional plasticity at ovBNST excitatory synapses becomes dysfunctional with cocaine self-administration and that NMDA

This article proposes to present a reﬂ ection on the meanings constructed by the Brazilian written press regarding media and democracy. For this, it was necessary to recompose a speciﬁ c journalistic event: the submission to the Brazilian Congress of a bill to create the Federal Journalism Council by the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the request of the National Journalists Federation in August, 2004. This procedure gave rise to something rarely seen: the media were in the...

The present 34th edition of this pocketbook gives an overview of German economic journalists with their specific branches, important specialist newspaper editorial boards, the economic editors of the daily-, weekly- and public press, radio and television broadcusting stations as well as news-, information- and teletext services. In addition, 1600 public relations offices of industrial businesses, industry and trade chambers and universities are given. It concludes with information on authorities at a national and county level and more than 1200 business groups and leading bodies. (BWI) [de

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The present study was designed to evaluate (a) alcohol self-administration behavior of selectively bred, Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats exposed to the so-called “sipper” procedure (characterized by the temporal separation between alcohol-seeking and -taking phases), and (b) the effect of the positive allosteric modulator of the GABAB receptor, GS39783, on alcohol self-administration in sP rats exposed to this procedure. To this end, sP rats were initially trained to lever-respond under a reinforcement requirement (RR) 55 (RR55) for alcohol. Achievement of RR55 resulted in the 20-min presentation of the alcohol (15%, v/v)-containing sipper bottle. Once stable levels of lever-responding and alcohol consumption were reached, rats were treated with 0, 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg GS39783 (i.g.) 60 min before the self-administration session. Rats displayed robust alcohol-seeking (as suggested by relatively short latencies to the first lever-response and high frequencies of lever-responding) and -taking (as suggested by alcohol intakes averaging approximately 1.5 g/kg) behaviors. Pretreatment with GS39783 inhibited both alcohol-seeking (the number of rats achieving RR55 and the mean RR value were virtually halved) and -taking (the amount of self-administered alcohol was reduced by approximately 60%). The results of the present study suggest the power of the “sipper” procedure in triggering high levels of alcohol-seeking and -taking behavior in sP rats. Further, these results extend to this additional procedure of alcohol self-administration the capacity of GS39783 to reduce the motivational properties of alcohol and alcohol consumption in sP rats. PMID:21423431

Full Text Available The present study was designed to evaluate (a alcohol self-administration behavior of selectively bred, Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP rats exposed to the so-called “sipper” procedure (characterized by the temporal separation between alcohol-seeking and -taking phases, and (b the effect of the positive allosteric modulator of the GABAB receptor, GS39783, on alcohol self-administration in sP rats exposed to this procedure. To this end, sP rats were initially trained to lever-respond under a reinforcement requirement (RR 55 (RR55 for alcohol. Achievement of RR55 resulted in the 20-min presentation of the alcohol (15%, v/v-containing sipper bottle. Once stable levels of lever-responding and alcohol consumption were reached, rats were treated with 0, 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg GS39783 (i.g. 60 min before the self-administration session. Rats displayed robust alcohol-seeking (as suggested by relatively short latencies to the first lever-response and high frequencies of lever-responding and -taking (as suggested by alcohol intakes averaging approximately 1.5 g/kg behaviors. Pretreatment with GS39783 inhibited both alcohol-seeking (the number of rats achieving RR55 and the mean RR value were virtually halved and -taking (the amount of self-administered alcohol was reduced by approximately 60%. The results of the present study suggest the power of the “sipper” procedure in triggering high levels of alcohol-seeking and -taking behavior in sP rats. Further, these results extend to this additional procedure of alcohol self-administration the capacity of GS39783 to reduce the motivational properties of alcohol and alcohol consumption in sP rats.

The contribution of dopamine receptor subtypes in mediating the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine is not fully established. Many drug discrimination studies use food to maintain responding, necessitating food restriction, which can alter drug effects. This study established stimulus control with cocaine (10 mg/kg) in free-feeding and food-restricted rats responding under a schedule of stimulus shock termination (SST) and in food-restricted rats responding under a schedule of food presentation to examine whether feeding condition or the reinforcer used to maintain responding impacts the effects of cocaine. Dopamine receptor agonists and antagonists were examined for their ability to mimic or attenuate, respectively, the effects of cocaine. Apomorphine, quinpirole, and lisuride occasioned >90 % responding on the cocaine-associated lever in free-feeding rats responding under a schedule of SST; apomorphine, but not quinpirole or lisuride, occasioned >90 % responding on the cocaine lever in food-restricted rats responding under a schedule of SST. In food-restricted rats responding for food these drugs occasioned little cocaine lever responding and were comparatively more potent in decreasing responding. In free-feeding rats, the effects of cocaine were attenuated by the D2/D3 receptor antagonist raclopride and the D3 receptor-selective antagonist PG01037. In food-restricted rats, raclopride and the D2 receptor-selective antagonist L-741,626 attenuated the effects of cocaine. Raclopride antagonized quinpirole in all groups while PG01037 antagonized quinpirole only in free-feeding rats. These results demonstrate significant differences in the discriminative stimulus of cocaine that are due to feeding conditions and not to the use of different reinforcers across procedures.

Sodium hydrous titanium oxide is an ion exchange resin which can be used for immobilizing medium level waste (MLW) liquors. When hot pressed, it undergoes conversion to a ceramic. Three low melting point materials (borax, bismuth trioxide, and a mixture of PbO/CuO) were added to the (Na)HTiO and the effect that each of these had on aiding densification was assessed. Hot pressing temperature, applied pressure, and percentage addition of hot pressing aid were varied. Percentage open porosity, flexural strength, and leachability were measured. There was a linear relationship between the percentage open porosity and the logarithm of the leach rate for a constant percentage addition of each additive

In this study it was identified the frequency of negative and positive news on the nuclear question in the press media. Due to the complexity of the matter, we opt to perform a study case that could illustrate the theoretical discussion presented in this research. Thus, due to the constant presence of news related to IPCC meeting, in the national and foreign press, we opt to focus our study on one year period just after the release of the 4th IPCC Report, in February of 2007. The research was centered only in the printed matters, since there is significant differences between the printed media and others, like TV, radio or web, restricting the use of the same bibliographical reference. In this study it was collected journalistic material involving the nuclear energy and was verified the predominant speech of the vehicles of communication and the sources of information. It was noted the predominance of positive articles, mainly due to the weight of the favorable speeches by authorities, cited as the most frequent in the paper. The negative approach almost always was assumed by the ONGs in general, as expected, due to the its well known position in the treatment of matters related to the nuclear energy. Also it is important to point out that all the tracked vehicles of information mixed positive and negative news articles on the subject; and evidences of hegemonic speech by official sources had been observed. (author)

Full Text Available A press conference is an important tool of public relations. The primary role of public relations is to manage a company’s reputation and help build public consent for its enterprises. The goal of PR is to develop and maintain goodwill with most, if not all, of its publics. Failure to do so may mean loss of customers and revenues, time lost dealing with complaints or lawsuits, and loss of esteem. A company’s publics change constantly. Well-executed public relations is an ongoing process that molds good long-term relationships and plays an important role in relationship marketing and integrated communications. Companies often call press conference when they have significant news to announce, such as the introduction of a new product or advertising campaign. Although used less often by organizations and corporations, this form of delivery can be very effective. The topic must be of major interest to a specific group before it is likely to gain coverage.

PRESS BRIEFING ON THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER (LHC) RE-START, SEASON 2 AT CERN, GLOBE OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION Where : http://cern.ch/directions at the Globe of Science and Innovation When : Thursday, 12 March from 2.30 to 3.30pm - Open seating as from 2.15pm Speakers : CERN’s Director General, Rolf Heuer and Director of Accelerators, Frédérick Bordry, and representatives of the LHC experiments Webcast : https://webcast.web.cern.ch/webcast/ Dear Journalists, CERN is pleased to invite you to the above press briefing which will take place on Thursday 12 March, in the Globe of Science and Innovation, 1st floor, from 2.30 to 3.30pm. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is ready to start up for its second three-year run. The 27km LHC is the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world operating at a temperature of -217 degrees Centigrade and powered to a current of 11,000 amps. Run 2 of the LHC follows a two-year technical s...

Full Text Available Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP rats exhibit innate preference for alcohol, are highly sensitive to stress and stress-induced alcohol seeking. Genetic analysis showed that over-expression of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF system of msP rats is correlated with the presence of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs occurring in the promoter region (position -1836 and -2097 of the CRF1 receptor (CRF1-R gene. Here we examined whether these point mutations were associated to the innate alcohol preference, stress-induced drinking and seeking.We have recently re-derived the msP rats to obtain two distinct lines carrying the wild type (GG and the point mutations (AA, respectively. The phenotypic characteristics of these two lines were compared with those of unselected Wistar rats. Both AA and GG rats showed similar patterns of voluntary alcohol intake and preference. Similarly, the pharmacological stressor yohimbine (0.0, 0.625, 1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg elicited increased operant alcohol self-administration under fixed and progressive ratio reinforcement schedules in all three lines. Following extinction, yohimbine (0.0, 0.625, 1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg significantly reinstated alcohol seeking in the three groups. However, at the highest dose this effect was no longer evident in AA rats. Treatment with the CRF1-R antagonist antalarmin (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg significantly reduced alcohol-reinforced leverpressing in the AA line (10 and 20 mg/kg while a weaker or no effect was observed in the Wistar and the GG group, respectively. Finally, antalarmin significantly reduced yohimbine-induced increase in alcohol drinking in all three groups.In conclusion, these specific SNPs in the CRF1-R gene do not seem to play a primary role in the expression of the msP excessive-drinking phenotype or stress-induced drinking but may be associated with a decreased threshold for stress-induced alcohol seeking and an increased sensitivity to the effects of

Skilled forelimb function in mice is traditionally studied through behavioral paradigms that require extensive training by investigators and are limited by the number of trials individual animals are able to perform within a supervised session. We developed a skilled lever positioning task that mice can perform within their home cage. The task requires mice to use their forelimb to precisely hold a lever mounted on a rotary encoder within a rewarded position to dispense a water reward. A Raspberry Pi microcomputer is used to record lever position during trials and to control task parameters, thus making this low-footprint apparatus ideal for use within animal housing facilities. Custom Python software automatically increments task difficulty by requiring a longer hold duration, or a more accurate hold position, to dispense a reward. The performance of individual animals within group-housed mice is tracked through radio-frequency identification implants, and data stored on the microcomputer may be accessed remotely through an active internet connection. Mice continuously engage in the task for over 2.5 mo and perform ~500 trials/24 h. Mice required ~15,000 trials to learn to hold the lever within a 10° range for 1.5 s and were able to further refine movement accuracy by limiting their error to a 5° range within each trial. These results demonstrate the feasibility of autonomously training group-housed mice on a forelimb motor task. This paradigm may be used in the future to assess functional recovery after injury or cortical reorganization induced by self-directed motor learning. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We developed a low-cost system for fully autonomous training of group-housed mice on a forelimb motor task. We demonstrate the feasibility of tracking both end-point, as well as kinematic performance of individual mice, with each performing thousands of trials over 2.5 mo. The task is run and controlled by a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, which allows for cages to be

Experiment 1, using rats, investigated the effect of adrenalectomy (ADX) on the invigoration of lever-contact performance that occurs in the autoshaping situation after a shift from acquisition to extinction (called the extinction spike). Groups of rats with ADX or sham operations were trained under spaced and massed conditions [average intertrial intervals (ITI) of either 15 or 90 s] for 10 sessions and then shifted to extinction. ADX did not affect acquisition training but it eliminated the extinction spike. Plasma corticosterone levels during acquisition were shown in Experiment 2 to be similar in rats trained under spaced or massed conditions. Adrenal participation in the emotional arousal induced by conditions of surprising nonreward (e.g., extinction) is discussed.

Describes the tribally controlled media's efforts to provide a form of checks and balances against the tribal council on behalf of the tribal community. Examines the issue of freedom of the tribal press, suggesting that tribal council's control of press's operating funds may limit press freedom. (MAB)

Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator; Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager; Mike Wetmore, Director of Shuttle Processing; and 1st Lieutenant Mindy Chavez, Launch Weather Officer-United States Air Force 45th Weather Squadron are in attendance for this STS-114 Discovery launch readiness press conference. The discussion begins with Wayne Hale bringing to the table a low level sensor device for everyone to view. He talks in detail about all of the extensive tests that were performed on these sensors and the completion of these ambient tests. Chavez presents her weather forecast for the launch day of July 26th 2005. Michael Griffin and Wayne Hale answer questions from the news media pertaining to the sensors and launch readiness. The video ends with footage of Pilot Jim Kelly and Commander Eileen Collins conducting test flights in a Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) that simulates Space Shuttle landing.

Objective: To observe the effect of Ganfukang on liver function and serum hepatic fibrosis markers levels in SD rats with experimental hepatic fibrosis. Methods: SD rat models of liver fibrosis was induced by CCl 4 (n=57). Liver function (GPT, GOT) and serum hepatic fibrosis markers levels (HA, LN, C-IV, PC-III, with RIA) were tested in these models and 10 control rats. Eleven model rats were left untreated, the others were treated with Ganfukang of different concentrations and the above hepatic parameters were again determined after completion of treatment. Results: Lever function was much deteriorated and serum markers levels significantly increased in the model rats (vs controls, P<0.01). After treatment with Ganfukang, the improvement was significant (vs untreated models, P<0.01). Conclusion: Ganfukang is of definite therapeutic value for experimental hepatic fibrosis in rat models. (authors)

This is the final report of a research project (ABSTRACT-colurba) which aimed at exploring decision mechanisms and organisational dynamics underlying the elaboration of strategies of adaptation to climate changes by using results of a field study among ten previously selected French local communities. The objectives were to determine priority local social and economic challenges associated with expected impacts of climate changes, to identify economic, organisational and cognitive barriers and levers (at the State, representative or collectivity level) to an optimal implementation of measures of reduction of local vulnerabilities to climate changes, to identify possible or already used diagnosis tools for the assessment of costs and of priority investments, and to make comparisons with other referenced cases and to assess possibilities to bypass barriers thanks to a dialogue with stakeholders. After a presentation of the project (objectives, institutional context, guides and methodologies, scientific approach for data acquisition and analysis), the report presents and discusses the obtained results regarding the place given to adaptation in local policies (PCET, the French local climate-energy plans), representations of adaptation, the inclusion of adaptation in the agenda of public climatic action, tools to make adaptation operational, barriers and levers to action implementation

Full Text Available This paper deals with issues in determining the ideal compression ratio for a screw briquetting press. First, the principles of operation and a basic description of the main parts of a screw briquetting press are introduced. The next section describes the pressing space by means of 3D software. The pressing space was created using a Boolean subtract function. The final section of the paper measures the partial volumes of the pressing chamber in CATIA V5 by function of measuring. The measured values are substituted into the formula for the compression ratio, and the resulting evaluations are presented in the diagram in the conclusion of this paper.

Hot axial and hot isostatic pressing was applied for single-core MgB 2 /Ti tapes. Differences in transport current density, n-exponents and critical current anisotropy are discussed and related to the grain connectivity influenced by pressing. The magnetic Hall probe scanning measurements allowed observing the isolated regions for axially hot pressed sample attributed to the longitudinally oriented cracks introduced by pressing. The highest current densities were measured for the tape subjected to hot isostatic pressing due to improved connectivity.

EtOH and tartaric acid are recovered from press residues of grapes by distillation and concentration of the EtOH and extraction of the dried residue after removal of seeds with a mixture of H/sub 2/O and mineral acid. Vegetable oil is extracted from the seeds. Collidal substances are coagulated by roasting prior to extraction of tartaric acid. The grape skins are recovered in flake form.

Facing the public hostile purposes of october 2002, concerning the renewable energies, Andre Antolini, President of the renewable energies syndicate, proposed a press conference to give information, data and realizations on the renewable energies. The text of the conference is presented, as data on employment, biofuels, the wind energy, the hydro-electricity the greenhouse effect fight, the public opinion, the solar heating, the photovoltaic and the future projects and electric power supply for 2010. (A.L.B.)

A Settlement Agreement between the Department of Energy and the State of Idaho mandates that all high-level radioactive waste now stored at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant be treated so that it is ready to move out of Idaho for disposal by the target date of 2035. This study investigates the immobilization of all Idaho Chemical Processing Plant calcine, including calcined sodium bearing waste, via the process known as hot isostatic press, which produces compact solid waste forms by means of high temperature and pressure (1,050 C and 20,000 psi), as the treatment method for complying with the settlement agreement. The final waste product would be contained in stainless-steel canisters, the same type used at the Savannah River Site for vitrified waste, and stored at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory until a national geological repository becomes available for its disposal. The waste processing period is from 2013 through 2032, and disposal at the High Level Waste repository will probably begin sometime after 2065

In this study more than 1,000 cases of long-term disability among members of the press and media were evaluated. Mental disorders were the main cause of disability in almost every fourth case. In women psychiatric illnesses were even more important. The most common diagnosis was that of a depressive disorder which accounted for more than half of all psychiatric cases. The causes of disability of other insurance systems such as the German social security scheme and the pension and disability plan for the medical profession were compared. Mental illnesses are the leading cause of disability in white collar workers and orthopaedic illnesses, especially disorders of the vertebral column, are the leading cause in blue collar workers, as one might have expected. In females mental disorders are even more common than in men whereas men tend to have more cardiovascular problems than women. In this study also some interesting features regarding disability caused by various illnesses after long-term follow-up were found. This opens unknown perspectives allowing new assessment of diseases and eventually will enable the actuary to price medical diagnoses for disability insurance.

The current system for ensuring the unity of measurements in the Russian Federation and countries of the former Soviet Union ensures a high quality of dosimetric, radiometric, and spectrometric measurements in accordance with the recommendations of the Consulative Committee on Standards for Measurements of Ionizing Radiations of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (IBWM), International Organization on Radiological Units (ICRU), International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), International Organization on Legislative Metrology (IOLM), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Health Organization (WHO), etc. Frequent collation of the national primary and secondary standards of Russia with those of IBWM and the leading national laboratories of the world facilitate mutual verification of the measurements of ionizing radiations. The scope of scientific and scientific-technical problems that can be solved by using ionizing radiations has expanded significantly in recent years. In this paper the authors consider some pressing problems of the metrology of ionizing radiations which have arisen as a result of this expansion. These include the need for unity and reliability of measurements involved in radiation protection, the measurement of low doses involving low dose rates, ensuring the unity of measurements when monitoring the radiological security of the population, the need for more uniformity on an international scale regarding the basic physical quantities and their units for characterizing radiation fields, determination of the accuracy of measurement of the radiation dose absorbed by an irradiated tissue or organ, and the development of complex standards for ionizing radiations. 5 refs., 1 tab

A Settlement Agreement between the Department of Energy and the State of Idaho mandates that all high-level radioactive waste now stored at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant be treated so that it is ready to move out of Idaho for disposal by the target date of 2035. This study investigates the immobilization of all Idaho Chemical Processing Plant calcine, including calcined sodium bearing waste, via the process known as hot isostatic press, which produces compact solid waste forms by means of high temperature and pressure (1,050 C and 20,000 psi), as the treatment method for complying with the settlement agreement. The final waste product would be contained in stainless-steel canisters, the same type used at the Savannah River Site for vitrified waste, and stored at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory until a national geological repository becomes available for its disposal. The waste processing period is from 2013 through 2032, and disposal at the High Level Waste repository will probably begin sometime after 2065.

Galvanized steels are of interest to enhance corrosion resistance of press-hardened steels, but concerns related to liquid metal embrittlement have been raised. The objective of this study was to assess the soak time and temperature conditions relevant to the hot-stamping process during which Zn penetration did or did not occur in galvanized 22MnB5 press-hardening steel. A GleebleRTM 3500 was used to heat treat samples using hold times and temperatures similar to those used in industrial hot-stamping. Deformation at both elevated temperature and room temperature were conducted to assess the coating and substrate behavior related to forming (at high temperature) and service (at room temperature). The extent of alloying between the coating and substrate was assessed on undeformed samples heat treated under similar conditions to the deformed samples. The coating transitioned from an α + Gamma1 composition to an α (bcc Fe-Zn) phase with increased soak time. This transition likely corresponded to a decrease in availability of Zn-rich liquid in the coating during elevated temperature deformation. Penetration of Zn into the substrate sheet in the undeformed condition was not observed for any of the processing conditions examined. The number and depth of cracks in the coating and substrate steel was also measured in the hot-ductility samples. The number of cracks appeared to increase, while the depth of cracks appeared to decrease, with increasing soak time and increasing soak temperature. The crack depth appeared to be minimized in the sample soaked at the highest soak temperature (900 °C) for intermediate and extended soak times (300 s or 600 s). Zn penetration into the substrate steel was observed in the hot-ductility samples soaked at each hold temperature for the shortest soak time (10 s) before being deformed at elevated temperature. Reduction of area and elongation measurements showed that the coated sample soaked at the highest temperature and longest soak time

The largest use for hot isostatic pressing (HIP) in production is in the consolidation of powder. In principle, powder is filled into a capsule of metal or glass, and the capsule is evacuated, sealed and loaded into the hot isostatic press. Consolidation takes place in the hot isostatic press, at which time the consolidated capsule is removed from the press and the encapsulation material is removed from the consolidated powder body. In both densification and defect healing, HIP is carried out without encapsulating the material. This is possible as the materials that lend themselves to HIP healing initially have a high density without communicating pores; therefore, the material acts as its own capsule. Considerations outside of the hot isostatic press that must be taken into account are examined. Information is included on powder manufacture, fabrication of capsules, powder handling, capsule sealing, and loading and unloading the press

High density and high T C superconductor specimens, YBa 2 Cu 3 O x , have been produced by hot-pressing. The factors studied are the effect of hot pressing on the density, the oxygen stoichiometry, the crystal structure, and the critical temperature. Hot pressing followed by heat treatment increased the density of the specimen to 93%. The hot pressing itself did not significantly affect the oxygen content in the specimen, and although the crystal structure appeared to be orthorhombic, the specimens were not superconducting above liquid nitrogen temperature. The superconductivity was restored after head treatment in oxygen. The highest critical temperature (T C ) of the hot pressed pellets was 82K, which was slightly lower than the T C that could be obtained with the cold pressed/sintered pellets. (6 refs., 5 figs., tab.)

Direct drive digital servo press has been developed as the university-industry joint research and development since 1998. On the basis of this result, 4-axes direct drive digital servo press has been developed and in the market on April of 2002. This servo press is composed of 1 slide supported by 4 ball screws and each axis has linearscale measuring the position of each axis with high accuracy less than μm order level. Each axis is controlled independently by servo motor and feedback system. This system can keep high level parallelism and high accuracy even with high eccentric load. Furthermore the 'full stroke full power' is obtained by using ball screws. Using these features, new various types of press forming and stamping have been obtained by development and production. The new stamping and forming methods are introduced and 'manufacturing' need strategy of press forming with high added value and also the future direction of press forming are also introduced.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a stable surface (bench) vs. an unstable surface (Swiss ball) on muscle activation when performing the dumbbell chest press and shoulder press. Sixteen healthy men (24.19 +/- 2.17 years) performed 1 repetition maximum (1RM) tests for the chest press and shoulder press on a stable surface. A minimum of 48 hours post 1RM, subjects returned to perform 3 consecutive repetitions each of the chest press and shoulder press at 80% 1RM under 4 different randomized conditions (chest press on bench, chest press on Swiss ball, shoulder press on bench, shoulder press on Swiss ball). Electromyography was used to assess muscle activation of the anterior deltoid, pectoralis major, and rectus abdominus. The results revealed no significant difference in muscle activation between surface types for either exercise. This suggests that using an unstable surface neither improves nor impairs muscle activation under the current conditions. Coaches and other practitioners can expect similar muscle activation when using a Swiss ball vs. a bench.

Full Text Available Abstract In the socio-political life the press has become an integral part in democratic life. The press has become one of the means for citizens to bring their thoughts and opinions. Nowadays there is a tendency to increase the quantity of press publications sharp but not accompanied by a statement of the quality of journalism. The objective of this research is to understand the essence of the infotainment liability as a mass media in order to construct a freedom of the press principle which has legitimacy within the legal system of the press in Indonesia. The type of research used in this paper is normative research or also known as doctrinal research by reviewing the legal protection to the infotainment as a mass media in Indonesia. The outcomes of the research indicate that the role of infotainment in the legal system of the press in Indonesia refers to the legal construction of institutional and infotainment organizers itself. Legal liability of Infotainment essentially can be seen from the press obligations stipulated in the Law No. 40 of 1999 regarding the Press Law No. 32 of 2002 regarding Broadcasting as well as the Journalists Code of Ethics which support freedom of the press and expression.

Full Text Available Mergers and acquisitions, for example the merger of Macmillan Science and Education with Springer Science+Business Media, might suggest that large is the future for academic publishing. It might seem that giant players will dominate the future of scholarly publishing, but, at the same time, this year has seen the launch of UCL Press, the University’s in-house publishing arm. Goldsmiths, University of London, has also announced it is preparing to launch Goldsmiths Press, a new university press built on digital-first publishing, especially around unconventional projects traditionally excluded by publishers. Some of the more established university presses also seem to be increasing their scope. For example, Stanford University Press launched a new trade imprint and Manchester University Press has announced it has acquired forward titles from Bloomsbury Publishing. 'Insights 'asked two experts if there really is scope for the small academic press in the modern scholarly publishing environment. Frances Pinter has provided the perspective of the small university press. She is realistic about the challenges small academic publishers face, but concludes that there is space and opportunity for them to coexist with the giants. Michael Magoulias is equally realistic about the challenges of small, but sees the university press as a necessary, not to say, vital, alternative to commercial publishing.

A convenient how-to guide for maximizing your WordPress experience. WordPress is a state-of-the-art blog publishing platform with nearly ten million active installations. Eight minibooks provide you with expanded coverage of the most important topics to the WordPress community, such as WordPress basics, theme designs, plug-in development, social media integration, SEO, customization, and running multiple sites. Veteran author Lisa Sabin-Wilson leads an authoritative team of authors who offer their unique knowledge and skillset while sharing invaluable advice for maximizing your site's potentia

The effects of pressing temperature and initial microstructure on the equal channel angular (ECA) pressing of Ti-6Al-4V alloy were investigated in this study. The ECA pressing was carried out isothermally with route C at 500 C, 600 C and 700 C for two typical microstructures, i.e., the Widmanstaetten microstructure and the equiaxed microstructure. The results showed that ECA pressing at 600 C and 700 C was successful without producing any noticeable segment at the specimen surfaces, while a large amount of surface segments were produced at 500 C. After 1 pass pressing at 600 C, the equiaxed microstructure showed more uniform material flow at the surface than the Widmanstaetten microstructure. However, this microstructural influence was diminished with increase of the number of the ECA pressing. A flow-localization parameter that quantifies the flow non-uniform tendency in case of flow softening materials was used to explain the different results in each microstructure. (orig.)

Co-users of alcohol and nicotine are the largest group of polysubstance users worldwide. Commonalities in mechanisms of action for ethanol (EtOH) and nicotine proposes the possibility of developing a single pharmacotherapeutic to treat co-use. Toward developing a preclinical model of co-use, female alcohol-preferring (P) rats were trained for voluntary EtOH drinking and i.v. nicotine self-administration in three phases: (1) EtOH alone (0 vs. 15%, two-bottle choice), (2) nicotine alone (0.03 mg/kg/infusion, active vs. inactive lever), and (3) concurrent access to both EtOH and nicotine. Using this model, we examined the effects of (1) varenicline, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) partial agonist with high affinity for the α4β2* subtype; (2) r-bPiDI, a subtype-selective antagonist at α6β2* nAChRs; and (3) (R)-modafinil, an atypical inhibitor of the dopamine transporter (DAT). In phases 1 and 2, pharmacologically relevant intake of EtOH and nicotine was achieved. In the concurrent access phase (phase 3), EtOH consumption decreased while nicotine intake increased relative to phases 1 and 2. For drug pretreatments, in the EtOH access phase (phase 1), (R)-modafinil (100 mg/kg) decreased EtOH consumption, with no effect on water consumption. In the concurrent access phase, varenicline (3 mg/kg), r-bPiDI (20 mg/kg), and (R)-modafinil (100 mg/kg) decreased nicotine self-administration but did not alter EtOH consumption, water consumption, or inactive leverpressing. These results indicate that therapeutics which may be useful for smoking cessation via selective inhibition of α4β2* or α6β2* nAChRs, or DAT inhibition, may not be sufficient to treat EtOH and nicotine co-use.

The outlook of the LNG industry in 2011 is presented as a revue of press articles: The role of LNG as a flexible and secure energy source as well as the prompt response to provide back-up through additional supplies and cargo diversions to compensate for the sudden loss of nuclear capacity in Japan - with sellers exercising due price restraint in view of the human tragedy - has been a credit to the industry. The increase in production capacity in 2009 and 2010, in particular from Qatar, had permitted the necessary buffer to cope much better with the demand surge than during past disruptions (such as the aftermath of the Chuetsu earthquake in late 2007). Undoubtedly, the marked shift over the last decade in the industry's prevailing business model towards global trade, destination flexibility and portfolio play has also facilitated the rapid response. As the total volume of LNG trade is very much determined by the availability of supply, 2011 has seen a growth of 9.4% over 2010, mainly as a result of the full availability of the six Qatar mega-trains over the past year. On the demand side the two traditional basins have shown very contrasting trends: 15% higher LNG off-take in Asia (the five major markets all increasing between 37.4% and 8.9%), versus a 1.7% decrease in the Atlantic Basin. Cargo diversions and an increasing number of reloads have boosted the exports from the Atlantic Basin to Asia in 2011 to more than 14 million tons (equivalent to more than 200 large size cargoes). Remarkable is also the fast growth in new markets in Latin America and in the Middle East - albeit from a small base - with counter-seasonal but varying demand, offering attractive arbitrage opportunities to portfolio play. Not surprising then that 2011 has seen another hike in spot and short-term trade, not just in absolute terms but also as a percentage of total trade (50% over 2010, 25.4% of total trade). The outlook for LNG is strong and its global demand prospects further

Full Text Available Although attentional and motor alterations in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD have been well characterized, less is known about how this disorder impacts goal-directed behavior. To investigate whether there is a misbalance between goal-directed and habitual behaviors in an animal model of ADHD, we tested adult [P75-P105] Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR (ADHD rat model and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY, the normotensive control strain, on an instrumental conditioning paradigm with two phases: a free-operant training phase in which rats separately acquired two distinct action-outcome contingencies, and a choice test conducted in extinction prior to which one of the food outcomes was devalued through specific satiety. To assess the effects of Methylphenidate, a commonly used ADHD medication, on goal-directed behavior, we injected rats with either Methylphenidate or saline prior to the choice test. Both rat strains acquired an instrumental response, with SHR responding at greater rates over the course of training. During the choice test WKY demonstrated goal-directed behavior, responding more frequently on the lever that delivered, during training, the still-valued outcome. In contrast, SHR showed no goal-directed behavior, responding equally on both levers. However, methylphenidate administration prior to the choice test restored goal-directed behavior in SHR, and disrupted this behavior in WKY rats. This study provides the first experimental evidence for selective impairment in goal-directed behavior in rat models of ADHD, and how methylphenidate acts differently on SHR and WKY animals to restore or impair this behavior, respectively.

Due to recent advancements and appealing applications, the purchase rate of smart devices is increasing at a higher rate. Parallely, the security related threats and attacks are also increasing at a greater ratio on these devices. As a result, a considerable number of attacks have been noted in the recent past. To resist these attacks, many password-based authentication schemes are proposed. However, most of these schemes are not screen size independent; whereas, smart devices come in different sizes. Specifically, they are not suitable for miniature smart devices due to the small screen size and/or lack of full sized keyboards. In this paper, we propose a new screen size independent password-based authentication scheme, which also offers an affordable defense against shoulder surfing, brute force, and smudge attacks. In the proposed scheme, the Press Touch (PT)—a.k.a., Force Touch in Apple’s MacBook, Apple Watch, ZTE’s Axon 7 phone; 3D Touch in iPhone 6 and 7; and so on—is transformed into a new type of code, named Press Touch Code (PTC). We design and implement three variants of it, namely mono-PTC, multi-PTC, and multi-PTC with Grid, on the Android Operating System. An in-lab experiment and a comprehensive survey have been conducted on 105 participants to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. PMID:29084262

Due to recent advancements and appealing applications, the purchase rate of smart devices is increasing at a higher rate. Parallely, the security related threats and attacks are also increasing at a greater ratio on these devices. As a result, a considerable number of attacks have been noted in the recent past. To resist these attacks, many password-based authentication schemes are proposed. However, most of these schemes are not screen size independent; whereas, smart devices come in different sizes. Specifically, they are not suitable for miniature smart devices due to the small screen size and/or lack of full sized keyboards. In this paper, we propose a new screen size independent password-based authentication scheme, which also offers an affordable defense against shoulder surfing, brute force, and smudge attacks. In the proposed scheme, the Press Touch (PT)-a.k.a., Force Touch in Apple's MacBook, Apple Watch, ZTE's Axon 7 phone; 3D Touch in iPhone 6 and 7; and so on-is transformed into a new type of code, named Press Touch Code (PTC). We design and implement three variants of it, namely mono-PTC, multi-PTC, and multi-PTC with Grid, on the Android Operating System. An in-lab experiment and a comprehensive survey have been conducted on 105 participants to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

The poor sinterability of B 4 C limits its widespread application because both high temperatures and high pressures are required for a complete densification. Moreover, B 4 C suffers from a low strength and fracture toughness, possesses, however, a high potential because of its extreme hardness. Reaction hot pressing of B 4 C-WC-TiC-Si-Co mixtures resulting in B 4 C-TiB 2 -W 2 B 5 composites of high density exhibit remarkable mechanical properties. The influence of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) on the microstructure and the mechanical properties is investigated in cooperation with participants of the COST 503 activities and related to the strengthening and toughening mechanisms. Difficulties during densification by HIP arise from the evaporation of adsorbed volatiles as well as from the strong swelling of the powder compact due to the sintering reaction. Several HIP cycle designs were tested in order to prevent the bloating of the capsule and to control internal stresses due to the misfit of the thermal expansion of the entire phases. In comparison to single phase B 4 C ceramics, bending strength was improved to 1030 MPa, K Ic to 5.2 MPa/m, while hardness was comparable with HV1=38 GPa. Wear test were performed and related to the toughening mechanisms. (orig.) With 56 refs., 9 tabs., 64 figs

Full Text Available Due to recent advancements and appealing applications, the purchase rate of smart devices is increasing at a higher rate. Parallely, the security related threats and attacks are also increasing at a greater ratio on these devices. As a result, a considerable number of attacks have been noted in the recent past. To resist these attacks, many password-based authentication schemes are proposed. However, most of these schemes are not screen size independent; whereas, smart devices come in different sizes. Specifically, they are not suitable for miniature smart devices due to the small screen size and/or lack of full sized keyboards. In this paper, we propose a new screen size independent password-based authentication scheme, which also offers an affordable defense against shoulder surfing, brute force, and smudge attacks. In the proposed scheme, the Press Touch (PT-a.k.a., Force Touch in Apple's MacBook, Apple Watch, ZTE's Axon 7 phone; 3D Touch in iPhone 6 and 7; and so on-is transformed into a new type of code, named Press Touch Code (PTC. We design and implement three variants of it, namely mono-PTC, multi-PTC, and multi-PTC with Grid, on the Android Operating System. An in-lab experiment and a comprehensive survey have been conducted on 105 participants to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

This is the second book in a five-book physical science series on simple machines. The books are designed for Spanish-speaking junior high school students. By suggesting experiments and posing questions concerning drawings in the book which illustrate the scientific principles, this book explains the workings of three types of levers. Resistance…

Full Text Available The paper presents the developed fully functional simulation model of an automated peat briquetting press drive. The given model makes it possible to reduce financial and time costs while developing, designing and operating a double-stamp peat briquetting press drive.

This study examines data from several national polls about press coverage during the Watergate scandal, in order to assess the origins of press criticism. The polls were conducted between 28 September and 6 October 1973, during June 1974, and in August 1974. The data suggest that political variables--particularly support of Nixon, party…

This research presents the design and production of a double acting 40 tons capacity hydraulic press. The issues in the design, engineering manufacturing of the hydraulic press are reported specifically on both cylinders generating the same pressure and velocity using a solenoid directional control valve and a flow separating valve. (In Turkish)

The author explains that Parlor Press is an independent publisher and distributor of scholarly and trade books in print and digital formats. It was founded in 2002 to address the need for an alternative scholarly, academic press attentive to emergent ideas and forms while maintaining the highest possible standards of quality, credibility, and…

You are probably already using PressDisplay to read newspapers online, but for those of you who are not yet aware of this service, PressDisplay is an online portal where you can browse and read online articles from more than 1,900 newspapers from 95 countries, as soon as they are published. Whether you are an experienced user or a beginner, we have good news concerning PressDisplay: our license now permits you to download complete newspaper issues to your mobile devices and read them offline wherever you like. To do that, you have to use the mobile app PressReader. Instructions on how to install the PressReader app are available here: For Ipad For Android smartphone For Android tablet For Windows 8 devices For BlackBerry Playbook For Android eReader Your feedback is welcome! Please contact us by e-mail.

One of the most important steps of the uranium dioxide pellets fabrication used in the nuclear fuel elements is the green pellets pressing. The target density of the pellets after the sintering process determines the density of the green pellet. To meet the same sintered target density the green density may vary according to the powder characteristics. These variations implies in changing the regulation of the press for different powder's patches. The regulation done empirically imply in productivity loss and necessity of reprocessing the pellets pressed during the press regulation and also depends on the operator experience. At this work, was developed an artificial neural network feed forward back propagation to predict the press regulation, depending on the powder characteristics and the green pellet's target density. The results obtained at INB - Industrias Nucleares do Brasil S. A. during the fabrication of the fifth recharge of Angra II nuclear power plant are presented. (author)

As for the influences of Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake on Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, we can conclude that 'the safety function of the nuclear power station, that is, 'Shutdown', 'Cooling down' and 'Isolating' functioned as per designed even against earthquake beyond assumption, and fundamental nuclear safety could be assured'. Nevertheless, it is said that one of the causes that harmful rumor had spread was due to mass communication media. In the press reports on some nuclear power station when affected by an earthquake and on trouble in the nuclear power station in the future, we will propose that the publication should be really useful for habitants and citizens and be promoted in the positive and expected direction, in order not to make the same mistake as this time. JSME should aim at implement the above-mentioned proposal under cooperation with other academic societies and organizations. (author)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of sex, exercise order, and rest interval on neuromuscular fatigue resistance for an alternated strength training sequence of bench press (BP) and leg press (LP) exercises. Twelve women and 16 men, both recreationally trained, performed four sessions in a random order: 1) BP followed by LP with three-minutes rest (BP+LP with rest), 2) LP followed by BP with three-minutes rest (LP+BP with rest), 3) BP followed by LP without rest interval (BP+LP no rest), and 4) LP followed by BP without rest interval (LP+BP no rest). Participants performed four sets with 100% of 10RM load to concentric failure with the goal of completing the maximum number of repetitions in both exercises. The fatigue index was analyzed from the first and last sets of each exercise bout. A main effect for sex showed that women exhibited 25.5% (p=0.001) and 24.5% (p=0.001) greater BP and LP fatigue than men respectively when performing 10RM. Men exhibited greater BP (p<0.0001; 34.1%) and LP (p<0.0001; 30.5%) fatigue resistance when a rest period was provided. Men did not show an exercise order effect for BP fatigue and exhibited greater (p=0.0003; 14.5%) LP fatigue resistance when BP was performed first. The present study demonstrated the greater fatigue resistance of men when performing 10RM BP and LP exercises. Since men tend to experience less fatigue with the second exercise in the exercise pairing, women's training programs should be adjusted to ensure they do not parallel men's resistance training programs.

For the first time, a superconducting solenoid (SCM) was used to increase the remnant magnetization of sintered NdFeB permanent magnets (PMs). In particular, improved magnetic alignment of commercial-grade PM powder was achieved, as it was axial die pressed into 12.7-mm diameter cylindrical compacts in the 76.2-mm warm bore of a 9-T SCM. The press used to compact the powder is unique and was specifically designed for use with the SCM. Although the press was operated in the batch mode for this proof of concept study, its design is intended to enable automated production. In operation, a simple die and punch set made of nonmagnetic materials was filled with powder and loaded into a nonmagnetic press tube. The cantilevered press tube was inserted horizontally, on a carrier manually advanced along a track, into the SCM. The robustness of the mechanical components and the SCM, in its liquid helium dewar, were specifically designed to allow for insertion and extraction of the magnetic powder and compacts, while operating at 9 T. Compaction was achieved by pressing the punches between the closed end of the press tube and the hydraulic cylinder mounted on the opposite end. Improvements up to 10% in magnetization and 20% in energy products of the permanent magnets were obtained, as the alignment fields were increased above the 2-T maximum field of the electromagnets used in industry. Increases in magnetization of 3% are significant in the mature sintered magnet industry

Full Text Available ABSTRACT In biodiesel production, vegetable press cake is obtained as waste, and a suitable destination for jatropha press cake would be the use in agriculture as organic fertilizer. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of jatropha press cake on soil fertility attributes and on lettuce production and accumulation of nutrients in the shoots. The experiment was conducted in pots in a greenhouse, in a randomized block design with eight treatments and five replicates. The treatments consisted of doses of jatropha press cake equivalent to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, 16.0 and 32.0 t ha-1. Portions of 5.5 dm3 of soil received limestone, phosphate fertilizer and the doses of jatropha press cake, and remained incubated for 30 days. After incubation, soil samples were collected, each pot received one lettuce seedling and the experiment was carried out for 45 days. The organic fertilization with jatropha press cake increased the contents of nutrients in the soil, especially K+, but caused increment in soil acidity and electrical conductivity. The use of jatropha press cake as organic fertilizer decreased lettuce production and accumulation of nutrients in the shoots.

Full Text Available The article raises an issue to enhance technological forging capabilities on the known knuckle joint presses. It provides an illustrated overview of main design types of presses with crank-knuckle, toggle-knuckle, and knuckle joint mechanisms. The article also shows the advantages of the modernization way and improvement just of the active press equipment in terms of quality-to-price ratio, for example, as compared to the similar new foreign press equipment.It gives an overview of features, which provide forging processes owing to kinetic energy accumulated with the moving parts of the known designs of the knuckle joint presses depending on the drive actuating mechanism. Focused attention is drawn to forging on the knuckle joint presses for a time of contact with a work piece to be comparable with the duration of the work piece deformation process on hydraulic forging hammers. This allows us to forge thin-wall products with process automation compared to the forging hammers.Analysis of accumulating processes of kinetic energy by the moving parts of the knuckle joint presses has shown that presses driven by hydraulic cylinders or two screw hydraulic cylinder are the most optimal for technological operations as evidenced by references to domestic and foreign invention certificates and patents. The article presents disadvantages of forging on presses with hydraulic or pneumatic drive. It is a dependence of the deformation force, caused, mainly, by a force of the drive cylinder. The article gives linear movement rate quantities of press moving members depending on the drives of the actuating mechanism. Based on the above analysis of the features to manufacture work pieces on the knuckle joint presses, the article gives the rationale for the relevance of forging in a short period of time, provided that the moving parts of the press accumulate the required kinetic energy. This can be achieved only through modernization and improvement of forging

Since the event of Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007 and the subsequent press reports on damage of nuclear power station after it, a stance of media is being questioned. In order to clear this problem, basic organizational structure of the press related to nuclear energy news was analyzed. Local news department, social news department, science news department and economical news department involve in nuclear energy news the accordance with their own situations and concerns. This structure makes problem of nuclear energy news reporting complicated. Changing this system is required but very difficult. It is concluded that the press problem around nuclear energy news is strange. (author)

Full Text Available The hydraulic press movable beam is one of the key components of the hydraulic press; its design quality impacts the accuracy of the workpiece that the press suppressed. In this paper, first, with maximum deflection and material strength as constraints, mechanical model of the movable beam is established; next, the concept design model of the moveable beam structure is established; the relationship among the force of the side cylinder, the thickness of the inclined plate, outer plate is established also. Taking movable beam of the 100MN type THP10-10000 isothermal forging hydraulic press as an example, the conceptual design result is given. This concept design method mentoned in the paper has general meaning and can apply to other similar product design.

Reports that the Polish press and broadcasting have been carrying more news and less propaganda since the 1970 Baltic upheavel and that the Polish media are generally allowed more freedom than media in other Communist nations. (RB)

Scientific institutions have for a long time known the importance of framing and owning stories about science They also know the effective way of communicating science in a press release This is part of the institution’s public relations. Enhanced competition among research institutions has led...... to a buildup of communicative competences and professionalization of public relations inside the institutions and the press release has become an integrated part of science communication from these institutions. Changing working conditions in the media, where fewer people have to publish more, have made press...... releases from trustworthy scientific institutions into free and easily copied content for the editors. In this commentary I investigate and discuss the communicative ecosystem of the university press release. I especially take a close look at the role of the critical and independent science journalist...

Discusses "private censorship" as it relates to car dealers and television advertising. Defines "private censorship" as that which occurs when a broadcaster suppresses or alters a news story that affects commercial clients (advertisers). Makes recommendations for a freer press. (JOW)

Full Text Available A new electromechanical press for fuel pellet manufacturing was built last year in partnership between CEA-Marcoule and ChampalleAlcen. This press was developed to shape pellets in a hot cell via remote handling. It has been qualified to show its robustness and to optimize the compaction cycle, thus obtaining a better sintered pellet profile and limiting damage. We will show you how 400 annular pellets have been produced with good geometry's parameters, based on press settings management. These results are according to a good phenomenological pressing knowledge with Finite Element Modeling calculation. Therefore, during die pressing, a modification in the punch displacement sequence induces fluctuation in the axial distribution of frictional forces. The green pellet stress and density gradients are based on these frictional forces between powder and tool, and between grains in the powder, influencing the shape of the pellet after sintering. The pellet shape and diameter tolerances must be minimized to avoid the need for grinding operations. To find the best parameters for the press settings, which enable optimization, FEM calculations were used and different compaction models compared to give the best calculation/physical trial comparisons. These simulations were then used to predict the impact of different parameters when there is a change in the type of powder and the pellet size, or when the behavior of the press changes during the compaction time. In 2016, it is planned to set up the press in a glove box for UO2 manufacturing qualification based on our simulation methodology, before actual hot cell trials in the future.

Treball Final de Màster Universitari Internacional en Estudis de Pau, Conflictes i Desenvolupament. Codi: SAA074. Curs: 2013/2014 Freedom of speech and press freedom are key foundations of all human rights as stipulated in human rights declaration of 1948. Denying people the right to free speech is keeping them away from what is happening in this world, thus, hindering them from participating in decision making. While speech freedom and press freedom are key tools to measure if a country ...

Location data becomes more and more important. In this paper, we focus on the trajectory data, and propose a new framework, namely PRESS (Paralleled Road-Network-Based Trajectory Compression), to effectively compress trajectory data under road network constraints. Different from existing work, PRESS proposes a novel representation for trajectories to separate the spatial representation of a trajectory from the temporal representation, and proposes a Hybrid Spatial Compression (HSC) algorithm ...

The object of this master work is corporate social responsibility's (CSR) discourse. The purpose of this work is to analyze how Lithuanian business press presents CSR topic. The main tasks to reach this purpose are: overview and compare CSR definitions; analyze media impact to CSR; analyze and summarize CSR discourse in Lithuanian business press. Literature analysis, synthesis and comparative methods were used to drawn conclusions. After the literature analysis of such scientists as Ph. Kotle...

To compare outcomes between resident-performed trabeculectomy and Ex-PRESS shunt implantation. A consecutive cohort of 36 Ex-PRESS shunt implantations and 57 trabeculectomies (1 eye/patient) performed by resident surgeons in their third year of ophthalmic training at the University of California, San Francisco and at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospital, under the supervision of a single glaucoma fellowship-trained surgeon were included in this study. Eyes with PRESS shunt groups at all follow-up points. On average, the Ex-PRESS shunt group required significantly less ocular antihypertensive medication to control IOP at 3 months postoperative (P=0.01), but no difference was found at 6 months or 1 year (all, P≥0.28). A larger proportion of Ex-PRESS shunt patients had good IOP control without medication at 3 (P=0.057) and 6 months (P=0.076) postoperatively. No difference was found in the rates of sight-threatening complications between groups (all, P≥0.22). In the hands of ophthalmology residents in their third year of training, the trabeculectomy and Ex-PRESS shunt implantation procedures perform comparably in terms of postoperative IOP control, reduction in patient dependence on ocular antihypertensive medications, and risk of complication in our population.

Researchers have demonstrated that rats reliably increase their rates of pressing a lever for 1% liquid-sucrose reinforcement if they will soon have the opportunity to press a lever for food-pellet reinforcement. In the present experiments, the authors investigated if this increase in response rates occurred because the upcoming food pellets produced an increase in all behaviors (i.e., general arousal) or an increase in only the specific operant response (i.e., leverpressing). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the appearance of induction in rats' leverpressing for 1% sucrose reinforcement when food-pellet reinforcement was upcoming did not coincide with increases in the frequency of running in a wheel or making a nonreinforced nose-poke response. On the other hand, in Experiment 3, the authors found the appearance of induction coincided with increase nonreinforced leverpresses on an adjacent lever. These results shed doubt on the idea that induction is a result of a general increase in all activity, and suggest instead that the increase in responding that occurs during induction is limited to the operant response.

Taking the Tours conurbation as an example, this study examines how to elaborate and define a new territorial coherence scheme (a land and urban planning tool) which would include a planned reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by a factor 4 between 2020 and 2030. It is therefore a prospective study with 2006 as a reference year (reductions are assessed with respect to 2006 due to data availability). After an analysis of the reference situation (2006) and of objectives, the report presents the scenario for 2020-2030, analyses the various levers in different sectors (mobility, housing, office building, industry and construction, agriculture), and examines possibilities related to the production of renewable energy, the adaptation to climate change, the creation of a new governance to mitigate and to adapt to climate change. Expected gains are discussed for transports, housing, office building, industry, agriculture, renewable energies, and adaptation. The last part reports a sensitive approach to a post-carbon world through different workshops (with children or within a fiction writing workshop)

A multiplexer technique is used to individually measure an array of 256 split gates on a single GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. This results in the generation of large volumes of data, which requires the development of automated data analysis routines. An algorithm is developed to find the spacing between discrete energy levels, which form due to transverse confinement from the split gate. The lever arm, which relates split gate voltage to energy, is also found from the measured data. This reduces the time spent on the analysis. Comparison with estimates obtained visually shows that the algorithm returns reliable results for subband spacing of split gates measured at 1.4 K. The routine is also used to assess direct current bias spectroscopy measurements at lower temperatures (50 mK). This technique is versatile and can be extended to other types of measurements. For example, it is used to extract the magnetic field at which Zeeman-split 1D subbands cross one another

Nicotine enhances approach toward and operant responding for conditioned stimuli (CSs), but the effect of exposure during different phases of Pavlovian incentive learning on these measures remains to be determined. These studies examined the effects of administering nicotine early, late or throughout Pavlovian conditioning trials on discriminated approach behavior, nicotine-enhanced responding for conditioned reinforcement, extinction, and the reinstatement of responding for conditioned reinforcement. We also tested the effect of nicotine on approach to a lever-CS in a Pavlovian autoshaping procedure and for this CS to serve as a conditioned reinforcer. Thirsty rats were exposed to 13 conditioning sessions where a light/tone CS was paired with the delivery of water. Nicotine was administered either prior to the first or last seven sessions, or throughout the entire conditioning procedure. Responding for conditioned reinforcement, extinction, and the reinstatement of responding by the stimulus and nicotine were compared across exposure groups. Separately, the effects of nicotine on conditioned approach toward a lever-CS during autoshaping, and responding for that CS as a conditioned reinforcer, were examined. Nicotine exposure was necessary for nicotine-enhanced responding for conditioned reinforcement and the ability for nicotine and the stimulus to additively reinstate responding on the reinforced lever. Nicotine increased contacts with a lever-CS during autoshaping, and removal of nicotine abolished this effect. Prior nicotine exposure was necessary for nicotine-enhanced responding reinforced by the lever. Enhancements in the motivating properties of CSs by nicotine occur independently from duration and timing effects of nicotine exposure during conditioning.

In an autoshaping task, a single conditioned stimulus (CS; lever insertion) was repeatedly followed by the delivery of an unconditioned stimulus (US; food pellet into an adjacent food magazine) irrespective of the rats' behavior. After repeated training trials, some rats responded to the onset of the CS by approaching and pressing the lever (sign-trackers). Lesions of dorsolateral striatum almost completely eliminated responding to the lever CS while facilitating responding to the food magazine (US). Lesions of the dorsomedial striatum attenuated but did not eliminate responding to the lever CS. Lesions of the basolateral or central nucleus of the amygdala had no significant effects on sign-tracking, but combined lesions of the 2 structures impaired sign-tracking by significantly increasing latency to the first leverpress without affecting the number of leverpresses. Lesions of the dorsal hippocampus had no effect on any of the behavioral measures. The findings suggest that sign-tracking with a single lever insertion as the CS may consist of 2 separate behaviors learned in parallel: An amygdala-mediated conditioned orienting and approach response and a dorsal striatum-mediated instrumental response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

In previous research, it was shown that decreasing either press temperature or press time generally resulted in decreased volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions during the hot-pressing of southern pine particleboard. However, because it is impossible to reduce both pressing time and temperature while maintaining panel physical and mechanical properties, this study...

Conclusion: Considering these results it can be maintained that TRX bench press resistance training can be an alternative and effective practice for barbell bench press because, given the results, it can be appreciated that TRX bench press, dips low in the trunk, can lead to muscle activity close to the level of muscle activity during the barbell bench press drill.

Do rats run and respond at a higher rate to run during the dark phase when they are typically more active? To answer this question, Long Evans rats were exposed to a response-initiated variable interval 30-s schedule of wheel-running reinforcement during light and dark cycles. Wheel-running and local lever-pressing rates increased modestly during…

One experiment with rats explored whether an extinction-cue prevents the recovery of extinguished lever-pressing responses. Initially, rats were trained to perform one instrumental response (R1) for food in Context A, and a different instrumental response (R2) in Context B. Then, responses were extinguished each in the alternate context (R1 in…

Bench-press exercises are among the most common form of training exercise for the upper extremity because they yield a notable improvement in both muscle strength and muscle endurance. The literature contains various investigations into the effects of different bench-press positions on the degree of muscle activation. However, the effects of fatigue on the muscular performance and kinetics of the elbow joint are not understood fully. To investigate the effects of fatigue on the kinetics and myodynamic performance of the elbow joint in bench-press training. Controlled laboratory study. Motion research laboratory. A total of 18 physically healthy male students (age = 19.6 ± 0.8 years, height = 168.7 ± 5.5 cm, mass = 69.6 ± 8.6 kg) participated in the investigation. All participants were right-hand dominant, and none had a history of upper extremity injuries or disorders. Participants performed bench-press training until fatigued. Maximal possible number of repetitions, cycle time, myodynamic decline rate, elbow-joint force, and elbow-joint moment. We observed a difference in cycle time in the initial (2.1 ± 0.42 seconds) and fatigue (2.58 ± 0.46 seconds) stages of the bench-press exercise (P = .04). As the participants fatigued, we observed an increase in the medial-lateral force (P = .03) and internal-external moment (P ≤ .04) acting on the elbow joint. Moreover, a reduction in the elbow muscle strength was observed in the elbow extension-flexion (P ≤ .003) and forearm supination-pronation (P ≤ .001) conditions. The results suggest that performing bench-press exercises to the point of fatigue increases elbow-joint loading and may further increase the risk of injury. Therefore, when clinicians design bench-press exercise regimens for general athletic training, muscle strengthening, or physical rehabilitation, they should control carefully the maximal number of repetitions.

Full Text Available Introduction. In sport technique studies, motion features can be useful as they have a certain defined measure [1]. In this work, we examined the following three features: the structure of the movement (all the characteristics of the movement, the fluency of the movement, and the rhythm of the movement. The aim of the study was to determine the usefulness of the selected movement features in the evaluation of the flat bench press. The protocol of the study included a flat bench press with free weights and a “touch-and-go” technique. Material and methods. The study involved twenty healthy men; however, only two were selected for analysis. The first subject was a 25-year-old powerlifter (body mass = 95 kg; body height = 182 cm; 1-RM in flat bench press = 145 kg. The second one was a 25-year-old bodybuilder (body mass = 77 kg; body height = 175 cm; 1-RM in flat bench press = 100 kg. The subjects performed consecutive sets of a single repetition of flat bench pressing with an increasing load (70, 80, 90, and 100% 1-RM, with the anticipated maximum weight, until the completion of one repetition maximum. Multidimensional movement analysis was made with the measuring system Smart-E (BTS, Italy, which consisted of six infrared cameras (120 Hz and a wireless module to measure muscle bioelectric activity (Pocket EMG. Results. It was demonstrated that the internal structure of the bench press performed by the bodybuilder and the powerlifter was different. As the time-history of barbell kinematics (the acceleration-time curve showed, with increased loading of the barbell, the rhythm of the flat bench press changed, and the fluidity of the movement worsened.

Full Text Available Freedom of expression and press freedom is the embodiment of the recognition of human rights. Freedom of expression is also the existence of press to disclose the news with honesty and do not get a pressure to deliver the news to the public space, which in news production is known as a work of journalism. Now the press has gained freedom of expression in the news production process which is guaranteed in the state constitution. Although Article 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945 does not point directly at the press, However, Article 28 F emphasis on processing and storage as well as ownership, excavations to information. It also contains provisions on the freedom of expression of others, which should be valued and respected. It shows equality for everyone in his position before the law in accordance with Article 27 1945 Constitution, which emphasizes the recognition of constitutional rights that belong to every person in the state of law in the Republic of Indonesia. Thus the press, which have freedom of expression in the writings of journalistic works are required to be responsible for the published news. So as not to face the legal issues and criminalization, then press should perform tasks and functions to enforce ethics as the precautionary principle when processing the news and broadcast it to the public space, as well as upholding human rights. How To Cite: Astuti, S. (2014. Freedom of the Press In the Scope of Human Rights. Rechtsidee, 1(1, 101-118. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21070/jihr.v1i1.96

Full Text Available In this paper we explore how the development of The University of Huddersfield Press, a publisher of open access scholarly journals and monographs, has enabled the sharing of research with a wider online audience. We situate the development of the Press within a wider research environment and growing community of New University Presses (NUPs where there is an increasing demand for demonstrating research impact, which drives the need for improved analysis and reporting of impact data, a task that often falls within the remit of library and academic support services. We detail the benefits of the University Press Manager role in terms of ensuring professional service that delivers consistency and sustainability. We go on to outline the experiences of engaging with different online spaces and detail the extensive support for student authors. We argue that in order for the Press to support building a strong and engaged scholarly community and provide new spaces for emerging research, continued investment in both platform development and infrastructure is required.

Full Text Available Stress enhances the behavioral effects of cocaine, perhaps via hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis activity. Yet, compared to Fischer 344 (F344 rats, Lewis rats have hyporesponsive HPA axis function and more readily acquire cocaine self-administration. We hypothesized that stress would differentially affect cocaine behaviors in these strains. The effects of three stressors on the discriminative stimulus and response rate effects of cocaine were investigated. Rats of both strains were trained to discriminate cocaine (10 mg/kg from saline using a two-lever, food-reinforced (FR10 procedure. Immediately prior to cumulative dose (1, 3, 10 mg/kg cocaine test sessions, rats were restrained for 15-min, had 15-min of footshock in a distinct context, or were placed in the shock-paired context. Another set of F344 and Lewis rats were tested similarly except they received vehicle injections to test if stress substituted for cocaine. Most vehicle-tested rats failed to respond after stressor exposures. Among cocaine-tested rats, restraint stress enhanced cocaine’s discriminative stimulus effects in F344 rats. Shock and shock-context increased response rates in Lewis rats. Stress-induced increases in corticosterone levels showed strain differences but did not correlate with behavior. These data suggest that the behavioral effects of cocaine can be differentially affected by stress in a strain-selective manner.

Full Text Available The issue of collaboration between science, industry and state is of relevance in domestic and international practice. In leading countries of the world and in Ukraine compatible production and scientific complexes are created; collaboration between research institutions and state is established, in particular the theory and practice of collaboration between science, industry and state on the basis of Triple Helix Model is widespread in the world; in scientific papers objects of research of economic processes, subjects of research of the economic theory are considered. However, there are no works where the objects and tasks of economic researches are studied on the basis of macroeconomic environment, and a distinct principle to distinguish research objects relating to different economies and types of production is laid out; scientific and practical problems of economy in the field of collaboration between state, science and industry are clearly defined. According to the purpose of the article (to specify scientific and practical tasks to rationalize scientific research, the experience gained is systematized and a scheme-matrix of scientific and practical problems is proposed. In scientific practice there are works highlighting principles of scientific research work, research tasks in the field of economy, scientific problems of economy but there are no works considering both principles and tasks of collaboration of academic economists with state and industry in order to provide scientists with recommendations on optimization of economic processes to improve the economic efficiency. Taking into account the experience gained, principles of collaboration of academic economists with the state and industry are identified. On the basis of the developed matrix of scientific and practical tasks, the principle of impact of political factors on managerial levers, the level of Gross Domestic Product and Gross Social Product is demonstrated.

The Press Building was constructed in 1954 with 15,073 ft2 of floor space. It was built to house a 5000 ton double action Lake Erie hydraulic press and a uranium casting area. Missions included uranium activities associated with the Nuclear Weapons and Rover Rocket programs. At the end of the Rover program, the building continued to support various uranium materials science projects until the building was placed into a cold and dark status in 2013 and then was demolished in 2017. The building interior, the press, and associated systems were radiological contaminated and disposed of as low level waste. The demolition of this building opened up valuable real estate in the TA-3 area for the future construction of an ~11,000 Sq. Ft. Biosafety Level 2 laboratory and office building. This building will support the ongoing Bioscience Division mission at the laboratory.

Full Text Available This study analyses press articles published between 1982 and 2005 in an attempt to describe the social perception of natural hazards in Catalonia. The articles included in the database have been classified according to different types of risk. In addition, the study examines the evolution of each type of risk in the press coverage during the study period. Finally, the results have been compared to data provided by insurance companies with respect to compensations paid out for damages. Conclusions show that floods are the most important natural hazard in the region, but that the number of headlines for each event is greater in the case of snowfalls and forest fires. Factors such as the season of the year, the proximity of the affected region to the capital, the topical issues at the time, and the presence of other important news must be considered when the impact in the press is analysed.

Full Text Available The main objective of this essay is to analyze the legislation affecting the press during the French Intervention and the Second Mexican Empire and establish their regulatory effects. These regulations are frequently ignored by the historiography. The article is limited to the origins, innovations, mechanisms and evolution of printing regulations during this period. As a whole, this allows the reader to observe the restrictive conception of press freedom held by the Mexican political class and their willingness, during the second half of the 19th Century, to turn to prohibitive, repressive, authoritarian and centralist legislation. The article also reveals the extent to which Imperial legislation and its logic of censorship were neither unprecedented nor sudden foreign impositions but instead the expressions of a long-lasting desire for government control over the press.

The present invention is directed to a method for hot pressing irregularly haped refractory articles with these articles of varying thickness being provided with high uniform density and dimensional accuracy. Two partially pressed compacts of the refractory material are placed in a die cavity between displaceable die punches having compact-contacting surfaces of the desired article configuration. A floating, rotatable block is disposed between the compacts. The displacement of the die punches towards one another causes the block to rotate about an axis normal to the direction of movement of the die punches to uniformly distribute the pressure loading upon the compacts for maintaining substantially equal volume displacement of the powder material during the hot pressing operation.

Full Text Available Visual strength is responsible for one of the mayor changes undergone by the digital press with Internet explosion and the increase of the Informational and Communicational Technologies. The present study analyzes the structure the digital press has taken and the role of the digital advertisement in the composition of their textual and iconic elements. The paper quantifies the picture representations volume and compares their presence on the digital natives papers with those coming from the traditional paper support. The results reveal that there is a mayor contribution of adverts on the native on-line press compare to the on-line paper arriving from the traditional media decreasing the information volume. At the same time the visual volume is boosted on the former compare to the digital media with a paper support. Altogether it can be said that visual component prompted the digital papers first page, being this effect enhanced on the native digital papers.

Full Text Available This paper aims at studying the development of film advertising in the 1930’s Albanian press. Through advertising we struggle to read a piece of the Albanian monarchy’s history. Considering advertising as a historical source tends to reflect the economic, social and cultural life of the country. The study focused on the features, characteristics and uniqueness of advertising the films in relation to other ads present in print. Who were the people who created the ads, how does the Albanian press film advertising compare to advertising in the foreign press and what were the difficulties facing advertising at this time, are the other important issues addressed in this study. Over a century has passed since Harper's Weekly wrote that 'advertisements are a reflection of real life, a kind of fossil by which chroniclers can rewrite history in order to complete the graphic, even if all other historical evidence may have disappeared.

Eccentric muscle actions (ECC) are characterized by muscle lengthening, despite actin-myosin crossbridge formation. Muscles acting eccentrically are capable of producing higher levels of force compared with muscles acting concentrically. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ECC bench press yields greater strength than concentric (CON) as determined by 1 repetition maximum (1RM). Additionally, a comparison was made examining differences in the number of repetitions to failure at different relative intensities of 1RM. Thirty healthy men (age = 24.63 ± 5.6 years) were tested for 1RM in CON and ECC bench press and the number of repetitions completed at 60, 70, 80, and 90% 1RM. For CON repetitions, the weight was mechanically lowered to the chest, and the participant pressed it up until the elbows were fully extended. The ECC bench press consisted of lowering a barbell from a fully extended elbow position to the chest in a continuous controlled manner for 3 seconds as determined by electronic metronome. Paired t-tests showed that ECC 1RM (115.99 ± 31.08 kg) was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) greater than CON 1RM (93.56 ± 26.56 kg), and the number of repetitions completed at 90% 1RM was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) greater in ECC (7.67 ± 3.24) as compared with CON (4.57 ± 2.21). There were no significant differences in number of completed repetitions during CON and ECC bench press at 60, 70, and 80% 1RM. These data indicate that ECC actions yield increased force capabilities (∼120%) as compared with CON in the bench press and may be less prone to fatigue, especially at higher intensities. These differences suggest a need to develop unique strategies for training eccentrically.

Press hardening is currently used in the production of automotive structures that require very high strength and controlled deformation during crash tests. Press hardening can achieve significant reductions of sheet thickness at constant strength and is therefore a promising technology for the production of lightweight and energy-efficient automobiles. The manganese-boron steel 22MnB5 have been implemented in sheet press hardening owing to their excellent hot formability, high hardenability, and good temperability even at low cooling rates. However, press-hardened components have shown poor ductility and cracking at relatively small strains. A possible solution to this problem is a selective increase of steel sheet ductility by press hardening process design in areas where the component is required to deform plastically during crash tests. To this end, process designers require information about microstructure and mechanical properties as a function of the wide spectrum of cooling rates and sequences and austenitizing treatment conditions that can be encountered in production environments. In the present work, a Continuous Cooling Transformation (CCT) diagram with corresponding material properties of sheet steel 22MnB5 was determined for a wide spectrum of cooling rates. Heating and cooling programs were conducted in a quenching dilatometer. Motivated by the importance of residual elasticity in crash test performance, this property was measured using a micro-bending test and the results were integrated into the CCT diagrams to complement the hardness testing results. This information is essential for the process design of press hardening of sheet components with gradient material properties.

The parameters controlling the creep strength of hot pressed beryllium block have been determined. Creep strength was improved by a high initial dislocation density, a coarse grain size, and a low impurity content. The impurities most detrimental to creep strength were found to be aluminum, magnesium, and silicon. A uniform distribution of BeO was found to give creep strength which was inferior to a grain boundary distribution. The creep strength of very high purity, hot isostatically pressed beryllium was found to compare favorably with that of other more commonly used high temperature metals

Full or nearly full dense products of wrought-metal properties have been obtained by vacuum hot pressing (VHP) of several prealloyed Ti--6Al--4V powders including hydride, hydride/dehydride, and rotating electrode process (REP) spherical powder. The properties of billets VHP from Ti--6Al--4V hydride powder and from hydride/dehydride powders have been shown to be equivalent. The REP spherical powder billets processed by VHP or by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) resulted in equivalent tensile properties. The potential of VHP for fabrication of near net aircraft parts such as complex fittings and engine disks offers considerable cost savings due to reduced material and machining requirements

This study examined the acute effects of the 'Slingshot' on bench-press performance, prime-mover surface electromyographic (sEMG) amplitude, and barbell velocity during maximal and submaximal bench-pressing in competitive male powerlifters. Fifteen male powerlifters (mean ± SD age: 27.05 ± 5.94 years; mass: 94.15kg; 1RM bench-press: 139.7 ± 16.79kg) participated in the study. Bench-press strength, average barbell velocity, and sEMG amplitude of the prime mover muscles (triceps brachii, pectoralis major and anterior deltoid) were measured during two conditions; 'Raw' (without use of any assistance) and 'Slingshot' [using the 'Slingshot' to perform both the weight achieved during 'Raw' 1RM testing (Raw max/SS), and absolute 1RM using the 'Slingshot' (SS)]. The results showed that the 'Slingshot' significantly increased bench press 1RM performance by a mean ± SD of 20.67kg ± 3.4kg. Barbell velocity and stick point analysis indicate that this improvement is likely driven by an increase in peak and pre-stick barbell velocity as triceps RMS was lower throughout all rep max phases with the 'Slingshot'. The 'Slingshot' also caused reductions in RMS, specifically of the triceps at all rep ranges but barbell velocity was better maintained in the last reps of all sets. These data indicate that the 'Slingshot' specifically de-loaded the triceps muscle throughout all rep ranges and provide assistance to maintaining barbell velocity under fatigue during later repetitions of multiple-repetition sets. The 'Slingshot' training aid could therefore be used in de-load phases of bench press training or as an over-reaching and velocity training aid.

The ability to adjust response strategies when faced with changes in the environment is critical for normal adaptive behavior. Such behavioral flexibility is compromised by experimental disruption of cortical GABAergic signaling, as well as in conditions such as schizophrenia and normal aging that are characterized by cortical hyperexcitability. The current studies were designed to determine whether stimulation of GABAergic signaling using the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen can facilitate behavioral flexibility. Male Fischer 344 rats were trained in a set-shifting task in which they learned to discriminate between two response levers to obtain a food reward. Correct levers were signaled in accordance with two distinct response rules (rule 1: correct lever signaled by a cue light; rule 2: correct lever signaled by its left/right position). The order of rule presentation varied, but they were always presented sequentially, with the trials and errors to reach criterion performance on the second (set shift) rule providing the measure of behavioral flexibility. Experiments determined the effects of the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen (intraperitoneal, 0, 1.0, 2.5, and 4.0 mg/kg) administered acutely before the shift to the second rule. Baclofen enhanced set-shifting performance. Control experiments demonstrated that this enhancement was not simply due to improved discrimination learning, nor was it due to impaired recall of the initial discrimination rule. The results demonstrate that baclofen can facilitate behavioral flexibility, suggesting that GABA(B) receptor agonists may have utility for treating behavioral dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Abstract. Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is a novel technique for producing ultra fine grain struc- tures in submicron level by introducing a large amount of shear strain into the materials without changing the billet shape or dimensions. This process is well suited for aluminium alloys and is capable of producing ultra.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the contribution of particular muscle groups during the Flat Bench Press (FBP) with different external loads. Additionally, the authors attempted to determine whether regression models or Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can predict FBP results more precisely and whether they can ...

For more than 25 years, the "four theories" paradigm has been dominant in the study of the relationships among the press, society, and the state. Asserting that the major approaches to such study are the libertarian, social responsibility, authoritarian, and Soviet/communist theories, this paradigm fails to account for economic and…

Presents an acceptance speech by Franklin McCallie, principal of Kirkwood High School (Missouri), for the "Administrator of the Year" award presented by the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association and the Missouri Journalism Education Association in April 1989. Discusses journalism's role in achieving the school's chief goals: student growth,…

A picture is worth a thousand words! Extension professionals are often looking for the picture that best captures an event and tells its story. Look beneath the surface, though, and a picture is worth much more. Developing a 4-H press corps results in a collection of useful photos but has the added benefit of providing 4-H members with an…

Cell wall polysaccharides (CWPs) contribute to the water holding capacity (WHC) of fibre rich feeds, such as pressed potato fibres (PPF). However, the role of CWPs on the WHC of PPF was unidentified so far.

We explored the relationship between tobacco companies and the Black press, which plays an important role in conveying information and opinions to Black communities. In this archival case study, we analyzed data from internal tobacco industry documents and archives of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the trade association of the Black press. In exchange for advertising dollars and other support, the tobacco industry expected and received support from Black newspapers for tobacco industry policy positions. Beginning in the 1990s, resistance from within the Black community and reduced advertising budgets created counterpressures. The tobacco industry, however, continued to sustain NNPA support. The quid pro quo between tobacco companies and the Black press violated journalistic standards and represented an unequal trade. Although numerous factors explain today's tobacco-related health disparities, the Black press's service to tobacco companies is problematic because of the trust that the community placed in such media. Understanding the relationship between the tobacco industry and the NNPA provides insight into strategies that the tobacco industry may use in other communities and countries.

The work presents an analysis of the impact of nuclear issue on the Cuban press from 1990 to 2005 that was carried out by a group of communications specialists from nuclear area. An analysis of main challenges and actions of this group, aimed at informing the public the present situation of the Cuban nuclear programme and its perspectives, was also included

Surveys the entire Chinese journalist population of Hong Kong to determine how news organizations in the highly politicized environment of Hong Kong exercise institutional control on recruitment and newswork. Finds that press ideology is a major determinant of its organizational control. (MS)

Highlights: → The load-displacement indentation response of hot-pressed B 6 O is measured and analysed. → The nanoindentation hardness of hot-pressed boron suboxide is reported. → An approach is developed to simulate multi-cycling loading load-displacement curves. → A comprehensive model inter-comparison study of the ISE in hot-pressed B 6 O is also presented. → The fractal dimension is a better measure of ISE than the Meyer's index. - Abstract: The existence of the indentation size effect implies the absence of a single hardness value for the material under investigation especially at low applied loads. In this paper we present an investigation of the indentation size dependence behaviour of nanoindentation hardness in boron suboxide ceramic compacts prepared by uniaxial hot-pressing. Berkovich nanohardness indentations were conducted and analyzed accordingly. In addition to the ordinary Oliver and Pharr method of nanoindentation data analysis, a quantitative approach for the loading curve analysis is proposed. Using the proposed approach, the description and characterization of the observed indentation size effect through the application of the Meyer's law, and the classical and the modified proportional specimen resistance models as well as the multi-fractal scaling law was conducted and is reported. The load-independent hardness values deduced from our quantitative approach are comparable to the results calculated with conventional methods, especially with the multi-fractal scaling law.

This press dossier gives, first, a general presentation of the Mochovce power plant of the republic of Slovakia (history, technical characteristics, safety aspects, technical particularities of VVER 440/213 reactors (safety analysis, recent improvements), financing of the modernization project). Then, the activities of the Framatome group in central and eastern Europe are presented (partnerships, cooperation agreements and contracts). (J.S.)

A study examined the legal treatment of the press in constitutions or other basic legal institutional documents from around the world. Sixty-three constitutions or basic documents from the Western World, the Communist Bloc, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America were analyzed. Analysis revealed that most constitutions open with…

The objective of this study was to design and validate a three degrees of freedom model in the sagittal plane for the bench press exercise. The mechanical model was based on rigid segments connected by revolute and prismatic pairs, which enabled a kinematic approach and global force estimation. The method requires only three simple measurements: (i) horizontal position of the hand (x(0)); (ii) vertical displacement of the barbell (Z) and (iii) elbow angle (theta). Eight adult male throwers performed maximal concentric bench press exercises against different masses. The kinematic results showed that the vertical displacement of each segment and the global centre of mass followed the vertical displacement of the lifted mass. Consequently, the vertical velocity and acceleration of the combined centre of mass and the lifted mass were identical. Finally, for each lifted mass, there were no practical differences between forces calculated from the bench press model and those simultaneously measured with a force platform. The error was lower than 2.5%. The validity of the mechanical method was also highlighted by a standard error of the estimate (SEE) ranging from 2.0 to 6.6N in absolute terms, a coefficient of variation (CV) or =0.99 for all the lifts (pbench press exercises in both field and laboratory conditions.

The British and South African papers began to demand answers from politicians and military leaders for this shocking and unexpected catastrophe. The press ... Keywords: Prisoners of war (POWs), World War II, Union Defence Force, Erwin Rommel, Auchinleck, Ritchie, HB Klopper, South Africa, Eighth Army, Gazala ...

In considering the possibility of a normative theory of freedom of the press, this paper examines arguments about such freedom in the Third World and elsewhere. Some of the arguments discussed in the paper are derived from the theories of John Locke and Karl Marx; others are drawn from the concepts of divine rights, elitism, liberal democracy, and…

Highlights: {yields} The load-displacement indentation response of hot-pressed B{sub 6}O is measured and analysed. {yields} The nanoindentation hardness of hot-pressed boron suboxide is reported. {yields} An approach is developed to simulate multi-cycling loading load-displacement curves. {yields} A comprehensive model inter-comparison study of the ISE in hot-pressed B{sub 6}O is also presented. {yields} The fractal dimension is a better measure of ISE than the Meyer's index. - Abstract: The existence of the indentation size effect implies the absence of a single hardness value for the material under investigation especially at low applied loads. In this paper we present an investigation of the indentation size dependence behaviour of nanoindentation hardness in boron suboxide ceramic compacts prepared by uniaxial hot-pressing. Berkovich nanohardness indentations were conducted and analyzed accordingly. In addition to the ordinary Oliver and Pharr method of nanoindentation data analysis, a quantitative approach for the loading curve analysis is proposed. Using the proposed approach, the description and characterization of the observed indentation size effect through the application of the Meyer's law, and the classical and the modified proportional specimen resistance models as well as the multi-fractal scaling law was conducted and is reported. The load-independent hardness values deduced from our quantitative approach are comparable to the results calculated with conventional methods, especially with the multi-fractal scaling law.

Theoretical advantages of bipolar compared with monopolar radial head arthroplasty include better accommodation of radiocapitellar malalignment, reduction of capitellar abrasion, and reduction of stress at the bone-implant interfaces. Our purpose was to report the midterm results of press-fit

Stars is a part of the Golden Guides collection produced by Golden Press. It is a small 160 page paperback guide to the constellations, the sun, the moon, planets, and other celestial bodies. The book is convenient to carry along wherever you go, making it an easy to access reference material.

This collection of 35 articles addresses the topic of the ethical considerations and implications involved in reporting the news. Included in this book are such articles as: "Ethics and Journalism" by John Merrill, "Quality in Mass Communications" by Wilbur Schramm, "The American Press: Some Truths About Truths" by…

The difference between extruded and hot isostatically pressed (HIP) Al6061 both with a T6 final heat treatment and with a 30 wt.% SiC particulate reinforcement is one of densification. The higher density of the HIP material is not translated into a stronger material. The Mg2Si precipitation is

Full Text Available This paper will firstly examine the international framework of human rights law and its guidelines for safeguarding the right to freedom of speech in the press. Secondly, it will describe the constitutional and other legal rights protecting freedom of speech in Indonesia and assess their compatibility with the right to freedom of speech under the international human rights law framework. Thirdly it will consider the impact of Indonesia’s constitutional law and criminal and civil law, including sedition and defamation laws, and finally media ownership, on the interpretation and scope of the right to freedom of speech in the press. Consideration of these laws will be integrated with a discussion of judicial processes. This discussion will be used to determine how and in what circumstances the constitutional right to freedom of speech in the press may be facilitated or enabled, or on the other hand, limited, overridden or curtailed in Indonesia. Conclusions will then be drawn regarding the strengths and weaknesses of Indonesian laws in safeguarding the right to freedom of speech in the press and the democratic implications from an international human rights perspective. This inquiry will be restricted to Indonesian laws in existence during the post-New Order period of 1998 to the present, and to the information and analysis provided by English-language sources.

Compiled in response to the need for more information on the differences between the press systems of the United States and the Soviet Union, this bibliography contains 240 entries. Consisting of newspaper articles, journal articles, books, and pamphlets, the bibliography provides an overview of the different journalistic philosophies of the two…

An introductory presentation of Collabra, the open access mega journal from University of California Press, highlighting its unique business model which shares and spreads revenue back to the research community. (Presented at the FORCE 2015 conference at the University of Oxford, January 13, 2015.)

This review analyzes case law in the area of student press and distribution and offers some guidelines for developing and implementing school policy and rules. Litigation is reviewed in order to clarify students' rights, limitations on administrative authority in matters of censorship and prior restraint, and actions in connection with writing and…

In 2003, the Australian cricketer Shane Warne was suspected and convicted of doping. The purpose of this article was to understand how he tried to resolve the problem/dilemma of being suspected and convicted of doping through three press statements, which he delivered to the media during the 2003 Cricket World Cup ...

In the last few decades, rapid global demand for edible oils has resulted in a significant increase in the land area of oil crop cultivation. In the process of extraction of palm oil from oil palm fruit, biomass materials such as palm pressed fibre (PPF) are generated as waste products. This research was undertaken to evaluate ...

Immanuel Kant's idea of a will to do the right thing--to be ethical--is essentially a dead concept with both press and government. The reasons for this "ethics vacuum" are two-fold: the foundations of ethics in both circles are vague, confusing, and beset by relativism and pragmatism so that no system of ethics ever really coalesces; and neither…

This study presents an approach based on the use of pellet forming numerical digital simulation which enables optimization of the die pressing cycle. Semi-empirical mechanical models were used in an FEM code, CAST3M. Specific powder characterizations were also performed to supply the mechanical parameters of compaction model. The methodology for the identification of five main coefficients (index flow, elastic and plastic parameters) was used with two different powders. The results show that the axial distribution of frictional forces may be changed during die pressing by a modification of the sequence of punch displacements. According to these results and the literature, the pressing cycle can be considered to have an influence on the shape of a sintered pellet through the axial distribution of green density. The process used for the identification of the Cam-Clay model coefficients seems to be in good agreement, even if the changes in certain parameters remain rather unclear and will require follow-up studies to confirm some of the results. The experimental device used produces good quality pellets, and the Radial Open Die Modulus remains the first choice for reduced pellet damage. Much work still remains to be done to fully define the identification process and create the most representative simulations possible before launching an industrial version of a nuclearized press, planned for the last quarter of year 2014. (authors)

This bibliography lists journal articles concerning various aspects of the suburban press. Annotated selections, arranged alphabetically according to journal title, are gathered from the following periodicals: "Advertising Age,""Business Week,""Columbia Journalism Review,""Editor and Publisher,""Grassroots Editor,""Journalism…

Tolerance is defined as a decrease in responsiveness to a drug after repeated administration. Tolerance to the behavioral effects of hallucinogens occurs in humans and animals. In this study, we used drug discrimination to establish a behavioral model of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) tolerance and examined whether tolerance to the stimulus properties of LSD is related to altered serotonin receptor signaling. Rats were trained to discriminate 60 microg/kg LSD from saline in a two-lever drug discrimination paradigm. Two groups of animals were assigned to either chronic saline treatment or chronic LSD treatment. For chronic treatment, rats from each group were injected once per day with either 130 microg/kg LSD or saline for 5 days. Rats were tested for their ability to discriminate either saline or 60 microg/kg LSD, 24 h after the last chronic injection. Rats receiving chronic LSD showed a 44% reduction in LSD lever selection, while rats receiving chronic vehicle showed no change in percent choice on the LSD lever. In another group of rats receiving the identical chronic LSD treatment, LSD-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding, an index of G-protein coupling, was measured in the rat brain by autoradiography. After chronic LSD, a significant reduction in LSD-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding was observed in the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, chronic LSD produced a significant reduction in 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding in medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which was blocked by MDL 100907, a selective 5-HT2A receptor antagonist, but not SB206553, a 5-HT2C receptor antagonist, indicating a reduction in 5-HT2A receptor signaling. 125I-LSD binding to 5-HT2A receptors was reduced in cortical regions, demonstrating a reduction in 5-HT2A receptor density. Taken together, these results indicate that adaptive changes in LSD-stimulated serotonin receptor signaling may mediate tolerance

Nicotine is a psychomotor stimulant with 'reinforcement enhancing' effects--the actions of nicotine in the brain increase responding for non-nicotine rewards. We hypothesized that this latter effect of nicotine depends on increased incentive properties of anticipatory cues; consistent with this hypothesis, multiple laboratories have reported that nicotine increases sign tracking, i.e. approach to a conditioned stimulus (CS), in Pavlovian conditioned-approach tasks. Incentive motivation and sign tracking are mediated by mesolimbic dopamine (DA) transmission and nicotine facilitates mesolimbic DA release. Therefore, we hypothesized that the incentive-promoting effects of nicotine would be impaired by DA antagonists. To test this hypothesis, separate groups of rats were injected with nicotine (0.4mg/kg base) or saline prior to Pavlovian conditioning sessions in which a CS (30s illumination of a light or presentation of a lever) was immediately followed by a sweet reward delivered in an adjacent location. Both saline and nicotine pretreated rats exhibited similar levels of conditioned approach to the reward location (goal tracking), but nicotine pretreatment significantly increased approach to the CS (sign tracking), regardless of type (lever or light). The DAD1 antagonist SCH-23390 and the DAD2/3 antagonist eticlopride reduced conditioned approach in all rats, but specifically reduced goal tracking in the saline pretreated rats and sign tracking in the nicotine pretreated rats. The non-selective DA antagonist flupenthixol reduced sign-tracking in nicotine rats at all doses tested; however, only the highest dose of flupenthixol reduced goal tracking in both nicotine and saline groups. The reductions in conditioned approach behavior, especially those by SCH-23390, were dissociated from simple motor suppressant effects of the antagonists. These experiments are the first to investigate the effects of dopaminergic drugs on the facilitation of sign-tracking engendered by

Emission control devices on dryers and presses have been legislated into the industry, and are now an integral part of the drying system. These devices consume large quantities of natural gas and electricity and down-sizing or eliminating them will provide major energy savings. The principal strategy taken here focuses on developing process changes that should minimize (and in some cases eliminate) the need for controls. A second approach is to develop lower-cost control options. It has been shown in laboratory and full-scale work that Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) emerge mainly at the end of the press cycle for particleboard, and, by extension, to other prod-ucts. Hence, only the air associated with this point of the cycle need be captured and treated. A model for estimating terpene emissions in the various zones of veneer dryers has been developed. This should allow the emissions to be concentrated in some zones and minimized in others, so that some of the air could be directly released without controls. Low-cost catalysts have been developed for controlling HAPs from dryers and presses. Catalysts conventionally used for regenerative catalytic oxidizers can be used at much lower temperatures for treating press emissions. Fluidized wood ash is an especially inexpensive mate-rial for efficiently reducing formaldehyde in dryer emissions. A heat transfer model for estimating pinene emissions from hot-pressing strand for the manufacture of flakeboard has been constructed from first principles and validated. The model shows that most of the emissions originate from the 1-mm layer of wood adjoining the platen surface. Hence, a simple control option is to surface a softwood mat with a layer of hardwood prior to pressing. Fines release a disproportionate large quantity of HAPs, and it has been shown both theo-retically and in full-scale work that particles smaller than 400 ÃÂÃÂµm are principally responsible. Georgia-Pacific is considering green

This paper is based on a review of the literature that included reports from the Inter-American Press Association's general assembly in Los Angeles in October 1984, the mid-year meeting of the Inter-American Press Association in Panama City in March 1985, and the 1983 world press freedom review of the International Press Institute. Other material…

This article reports the effect of wet-pressing-induced fiber hornification on enzymatic saccharification of lignocelluloses. A wet cellulosic substrate of bleached kraft eucalyptus pulp and two wet sulfite-pretreated lignocellulosic substrates of aspen and lodgepole pine were pressed to various moisture (solids) contents by variation of pressing pressure and pressing...

Fracture behavior and strength of hot-pressed CaB 6 were studied. The modulus of elasticity determined by attaching strain gages to the tensile surface of the bend bars to measure strain, was 55 +- 3 x 10 6 psi. The results are compared with values for other low density ceramic materials (B 4 C, SiB 6 , Be 4 B, AlB 12 ) in a table. The fracture mode was observed for both modulus of rupture and impact test specimens. Predominantly transgranular fracture, associated with distinct step cleavages is evident. Fracture origins were examined in an effort to understand the strength limiting features in hot-pressed CaB 6 specimens. Surface defects, large grain agglomerations, and isolated pore pockets were observed and varied from bar to bar; these were similar to those found in B 4 C. (U.S.)

Full Text Available Recent research in the process of aluminum alloy die castings production, which is nowadays deeply implemented into the rapidly growing automobile, shipping and aircraft industries, is aimed at increasing the useful qualitative properties of the die casting in order to obtain its high mechanical properties at acceptable economic cost. Problem of technological factors of high pressure die casting has been a subject of worldwide research (EU, US, Japan, etc.. The final performance properties of die castings are subjected to a large number of technological factors. The main technological factors of high pressure die casting are as follows: plunger pressing speed, specific (increase pressure, mold temperature as well as alloy temperature. The contribution discusses the impact of the plunger pressing speed and specific (increase pressure on the mechanical properties of the casting aluminum alloy.

Full Text Available Most of raw materials of small hardware processing for plate scraps, and it’s realized through the manual operation of ordinary punch, which way has the low production efficiency and the high labor intensity. In order to improve the automation level of production, developing and designing of a visual processing system for punch press manipulator which based on the MFC tools of Visual Studio software platform. Through the image acquisition and image processing, get the information about the board to be processed, such as shape, length, the center of gravity position and pose, and providing relevant parameters for positioning gripping and placing into the punch table positioning of the feeding manipulator and automatic programming of punching machine, so as to realize the automatic operation about press feeding and processing.

Full Text Available Environmental issues are given prominence in the media and scientific circles. From the 60’s until early 2010 there were changes in the way people related to the environment, with a paradigm shift occurring regarding the environment. This study sought to identify the representational content disseminated by the press media on the environment in different periods. A qualitative survey was therefore conducted of documents, and data were obtained through texts published in a magazine with national circulation. The data were analyzed using the ALCESTE program with a Lexicographic Analysis. It was identified that the press media reflects the paradigm shifts, and publications dating from the late 60’s are compatible with the old paradigm, evolving over time, and are now compatible with the new environmental paradigm. The results indicate that currently the environment needs care in all its aspects and lack of care creates global impacts.

PressDisplay is an online portal where you can browse and read online articles from more than 1,900 newspapers from 95 countries, as soon as they are published. With Pressdisplay, the time when newspapers were nicely displayed on wooden rods in libraries has passed... Le Monde, International Herald Tribune and many more titles are displayed in their original layout including text and images, and you can print and e-mail the articles you are interested in. You even have the possibility to create rss feeds, so that the news reaches you directly. The CERN Library has now activated a trial version of PressDisplay valid till 31 December; it is open to everyone at CERN. This trial doesn't offer the possibility to create personalised alerts based on specific search criteria. In case you need such features - or if you have any comments or questions - please contact us.

Current regulations require industry to meet air emission standards with regard to particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and other gases. One of many industries that will be affected by the new regulations is the wood composites industry. This industry generates VOCs, HAPs, and particulates mainly during the drying and pressing of wood. Current air treatment technologies for the industry are expensive to install and operate. As regulations become more stringent, treatment technologies will need to become more efficient and cost effective. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the use of process conditions and chemical additives to reduce VOC/HAPs in air emitted from presses and dryers during the production of oriented strand board

This research aims to Investigate journalists’ understanding toward glittering generalities practice - positive and good coverage of the caused by the Journalistic contests, the prices are attracting them, Reviews their motives to Participate, and their beliefs about ethics al thing. It is also retrieve how the chief editor, as a decision maker in the mass media taking his responsibility on the glittering news. This research uses a case study method by conducting indepth interviews on journalists, editors, and professional the alliance to collect the data and analyse it based on critical paradigm. The results show that journalist believe that competition is good, and there is no violation as long as the stick to the press code of conduct, but for chief editors and professional alliance, they begin to aware the damage of the contest. The findings of this work will be valuable to develop critical thinking of press workers and promote awareness to the society to control the media practice.

Full Text Available An alternative cleaner process of pressing-powder preparation, based on filter-pressing and a novel granulation method, is presented to substitute the existing spray-drying process. In the new process, about two-thirds of wet-milled slurry is filterpressed, dried and milled into dry fine powder. The other one-third of the slurry and the as-obtained dry fine powder are spray-mixed in a tower, where the slurry droplets adsorb the dry powder to form granules which are then rolled and dried into a useable pressing-powder for tile pressing.
The key stages, filter-pressing and granulation (consisting of spray-mixing and rolling treatment, are specially studied. The pressing-powder properties and pressing/firing behavior, and, energy/water consumption and pollution emission data are presented, and a comparison between the new process and the existing spray-drying process is made. This new process has been found to be feasible and provides a pressing-powder with suitable properties, together with lower energy/water consumption and pollution emission (particulate matter and CO2.

in Mexico and to explore entrepreneurs’ reaction to the covered news. We also analyze journalists’ treatment of this news (Semetko & Valkendurg, 2000) and differences among newspapers from the U.S., Mexico and the European Union (EU). A sample of 200 news histories was constructed by integrating...... international and Mexican newspapers from 2006 to 2012. Our results showed that overall, U.S. and EU newspapers present more news related to violence towards entrepreneurs than Mexican outlets, which more often adopt the avoid strategy (Oliver, 1991). The conflict frame was more widely used in EU newspapers...... than in U.S. and Mexican newspapers, and the economic frame was more present in the U.S. and Mexican press than in the EU press. The morality frame was used more frequently by Mexican journalists than U.S. and European journalists. The results made it possible to observe the effects of framing...

Full Text Available Visual resource (photography and video inclusion in digital journalism is obtaining importance in the multimedia area. The principal resources of digital press are multimedia, hypertext and interactivity. Multimedia is in an initial process of evolution. The objective of this research is to observe empirically the use of visual resources by the digital pure player press. These media try to take advantage of the new multimedia possibilities in the development and presentation of the contents. We have analyzed empirically video and photography inclusion in the multimedia framework (text, photography, video, audio, infograph and animation programs in four digital newspapers (Libertad Digital and El Plural, in Spanish, and Vilaweb.cat and e-Noticies, in Catalan analyzed according to journalistic genres.

Full Text Available Almost half of those receiving the death sentence in late-Victorian and Edwardian England were reprieved. The process of deciding which murderers were to hang and which were to be spared became an increasingly public one, thanks to the growing intervention of the press. This intervention grew alongside the accelerated expansion in the numbers and circulations of newspapers in the second half of the nineteenth century. As the press became a larger part of national life, its more „popular‟ and its more local segments carved out for themselves a new and ever more prominent role as major participants in public discourse over „justice‟ vs. „mercy‟ for condemned murderers. This involvement is a facet of Victorian and Edwardian newspapers that has previously been overlooked.

Properly formulated and properly ''canned'' radwaste concretes can be readily hot-isostatically-pressed (HIPed) into materials that exhibit performance equivalent to typical radwaste-type glasses. The HIPing conditions (temperature/pressure) required to turn a concrete waste form into a ''vitrified'' waste form are quite mild and therefore consistent with both safety and high productivity. This paper describes the process and its products with reference to its potential application to Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) reprocessing wastes

spread propaganda resulted in a positive response by listeners who were predisposed to anti-Semitism and a negative response by those whose prior...2016/jun/11/ david-cameron-brexit-eu-referendum- listen -jeremy-corbyn. 5 Nations with a censored press would likely have denied the expression of...nationalism. Those “who can understand them, or can acquire such comprehension is included in a moral and economic community.”45 He states that “what is

This document brings together the subjects discussed during the Press breakfast of 29 june 2000 on the biological effects of the ionizing radiations, with scientists of the CEA and the CNRS. It presents the research programs and provides inquiries on the NDA operating to introduce the NDA damages by ionizing radiations, the possible repairs and the repair efficiency facing the carcinogenesis. Those researches allow the scientists to define laws on radiation protection. (A.L.B.)

This paper will firstly examine the International framework of human rights law and its guidelines for safeguarding the right to freedom of speech in the press. Secondly, it will describe the constitutional and other legal rights protecting freedom of speech in Indonesia and assess their compatibility with the right to freedom of speech under the International human rights law framework. Thirdly it will consider the impact of Indonesia's constitutional law and criminal and civil law, includin...

The optimal SYNROC compositons for use with commercial waste are reviewed. Large amounts of powder (about 2.5 kg) were prepared by convention al ceramic operations to test the SYNROC concept on a processing scale. Samples, 15.2 cm in diameter, were hot pressed in graphite, and representative samples were cut for microstructural evaluations. Measured mechanical and thermophysical properties did not vary significantly as a function of sample location and were typical of titanate ceramic materials

This paper aims at studying the development of film advertising in the 1930’s Albanian press. Through advertising we struggle to read a piece of the Albanian monarchy’s history. Considering advertising as a historical source tends to reflect the economic, social and cultural life of the country. The study focused on the features, characteristics and uniqueness of advertising the films in relation to other ads present in print. Who were the people who created the ads, how does the ...

Full Text Available For a short period of time, between the end of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th, newspapers and journalists were under the spotlight as never before. However, the comprehensive reviews of the theories of the press do not acknowledge the thought of this period and its development into “the social theories of the press” (H. Hardt, 1979. This article is positioned in this gap of press studies, and it uses as a starting point the foucaultian description of the diﬀ erent thresholds that establish the levels of discourse elaboration (Foucault, 1995. It aims at exploring the theoretical production that approximates German and American scholars such as Albert Schäffle (1831-1903; Karl Knies (1821-1898; Karl Bücher (1847-1930; Ferdinand Tönnies (1835-1936; Albion Small (1854-1926; Edward Ross (1856-1951; Max Weber (1864-1920; Robert Park (1864-1944 and Walter Lippmann (1889-1974, rescuing this production from the pre-history of the press to materialize evidence that this production coincides, in its external origin, with the modern newspaper practices, although there seemed to be no dependence between them at the time.

Full Text Available For a short period of time, between the end of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th, newspapers and journalists were under the spotlight as never before. However, the comprehensive reviews of the theories of the press do not acknowledge the thought of this period and its development into “the social theories of the press” (H. Hardt, 1979. This article is positioned in this gap of press studies, and it uses as a starting point the foucaultian description of the diﬀ erent thresholds that establish the levels of discourse elaboration (Foucault, 1995. It aims at exploring the theoretical production that approximates German and American scholars such as Albert Schäffle (1831-1903; Karl Knies (1821-1898; Karl Bücher (1847-1930; Ferdinand Tönnies (1835-1936; Albion Small (1854-1926; Edward Ross (1856-1951; Max Weber (1864-1920; Robert Park (1864-1944 and Walter Lippmann (1889-1974, rescuing this production from the pre-history of the press to materialize evidence that this production coincides, in its external origin, with the modern newspaper practices, although there seemed to be no dependence between them at the time.

Composites consisting of graphite and boron carbide were made by hot-pressing mixed powders of coke carbon and boron carbide. The change of relative density, mechanical strength and electrical resistivity of the composites and the X-ray parameters of coke carbon were investigated with increase of boron carbide content and hot-pressing temperature. From these experiments, it was found that boron carbide powder has a remarkable effect on sintering and graphitization of coke carbon powder above the hot-pressing temperature of 2000 0 C. At 2200 0 C, electrical resistivity of the composite and d(002) spacing of coke carbon once showed minimum values at about 5 to 10 wt% boron carbide and then increased. The strength of the composite increased with increase of boron carbide content. It was considered that some boron from boron carbide began to diffuse substitutionally into the graphite structure above 2000 0 C and densification and graphitization were promoted with the diffusion of boron. Improvements could be made to the mechanical strength, density, oxidation resistance and manufacturing methods by comparing with the properties and processes of conventional graphites. (author)

Plasma spray forming process for production of press moulds which are used for manufacture of articles from plastics was developed. The press moulds were produced by plasma spraying of Cu-Al-Fe-alloy powder on surface of a master model. The master models were made from non-metallic materials with heat resistance below 70 C (wood, gypsum etc). Double cooling system which provides for a control of surface model temperature and quenching conditions of sprayed material was designed. It made possible on the one hand to support model surface temperature below 70 C and on the other hand to provide for temperature conditions of martensite transformation in Cu-Al-system with a fixation of metastable ductile α + β 1 -phase. This allowed to decrease residual stresses in sprayed layer (up to 0,5-2,5 MPa), to increase microhardness of the coating material (up to 1200-1800 MPa) and its ductility (σ B = 70-105 MPa, δ = 6-12 %). This plasma spray forming process makes possible to spray thick layers (5-20 mm and more) without their cracking and deformation. The process is used for a production of press moulds which are applied in shoes industry, for fabrication of toys, souvenirs etc. (author)

Full Text Available The “hedonic” value of reinforcers is mediated by dopamine. Accordingly,haloperidol diminishes the value of reinforcers, by interfering with the emission of operant behaviors. Alternatively, the interference of dopamine transmission does not prevent animals from eating food. Thus, reinforcers remain intact after the administration of haloperidol. We assessed these possibilities with eight Wistar rats and two types of reinforcers, food-pellets and sucrose-water, delivered under multiple reinforcement schedules. Ingeneral, leverpresses maintained by food-pellets were higher than those maintained by sucrose-water. Haloperidol produced dose-related decreases in leverpresses and obtained reinforcers. Different doses had no effect on the number of leverpresses. Subcutaneous administrations of haloperidol produced higher decreases in leverpresses than intra-peritoneal administrations. Decreases in leverpressing were not necessarily accompanied by substantial reductions in obtained food-pellets and sucrose-water reinforcers; underthe effects of haloperidol rats continued to produce a considerable number of both types of reinforcers.

Full Text Available The article describes an example of the research facility for closed gap adjustment mechanism based on the KD2128 closed-die forging press. Its rated force with a servo drive used is 630kN. The servo drive consists of a motor with nominal power of 1.57kW and a frequency converter with power of 7.5kW, which has functions of the programmable logic controller.The article notes that such a facility is expedient and useful for practical classes on forging-andstamping machines at the BMSTU Department of «Technology processing by pressure» to demonstrate the capabilities of existing technological facility, learn a design of forging-andstamping machine units, solve the problems of automatic control, monitoring, and diagnostics in blank manufacturing.The article presents a detailed facility diagram of the closed gap adjustment mechanism and its photograph, describes the mechanism and its basic parameters, gives characteristics of the synchronous motor to drive the mechanism, reviews practical works, which the research facility may provide.Based on the four experiments the article estimates an efficiency of the research facilityuse under consideration, especially when modeling a servo motor shaft under the maximum load. The relevant diagrams confirm experimental results, namely: control current, angle of motor shaft and its speed versus time. Thus, upon the diagram analysis it can be noted that the research facility design allows providing kinematics and dynamics of the press closed gap adjuster.This article describes how to determine the closed gap adjusting accuracy of the press. Eight experiments have been conducted to evaluate a working out control signal to the linear movement of the press punch when using the research facility. It is noted that the linear positioning accuracy of the press punch reaches the hundredth parts of a millimeter of the adjustment value that is sufficient to achieve the required precision when performing operations such as

This document brings together the subjects discussed during the Press breakfast of 23 may 2000 on the antimatter, with scientists of the CEA and the CNRS. It presents the research programs and the experiments on the antimatter and the symmetry violation: the CP LEAR and the NA48 experiments at CERN, the BaBar detector at SLAC, the fundamental research at the CEA and the impacts on the energy policy. It provides also links for more detailed inquiries. (A.L.B.)

This document brings together the subjects discussed during the Press breakfast of 29 june 2000 on the biological effects of the ionizing radiations, with scientists of the CEA and the CNRS. It presents the research programs and provides inquiries on the NDA operating to introduce the NDA damages by ionizing radiations, the possible repairs and the repair efficiency facing the carcinogenesis. Those researches allow the scientists to define laws on radiation protection. (A.L.B.)